


Surviving Changes

by monarose



Category: Divergent (Movies), Divergent Series - Veronica Roth
Genre: Action/Adventure, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-01-23
Packaged: 2018-04-30 07:28:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 48
Words: 53,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5155373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monarose/pseuds/monarose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A year after Erudite tried to kill all of Abnegation a new set of initiates have chosen their factions and Samantha is one of the few who have chosen Dauntless. Eric is heartless trying to toughen her up for initiation but will he be able to break her? Or will she soften him up instead? Based after the first movie mostly, AU. COMPLETE!!!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Divergent or Veronica Roth's characters, but I do own any original characters and the plot.

Disclaimer: I obviously do not own Divergent or the characters except Samantha and this writing is just fiction written for fun.

I have not finished reading the second or third books so this is based after the first book and not as much about Tris and Four as it is about Eric and a new character. Also this Eric is based off the movie not the book. Why? Because he is way too hot to not have his own romance.

 

A year has passed since the war between Erudite and Abnegation. Tris, Four and the last of Abnegation are in hiding while the rest of the factions returned to their lives. Amity and Candor have stayed to themselves, although cautious, as Erudite crawled back to their home licking their wounds.

The leaders of Dauntless lied about their involvement with the Erudite and claim they did not realize what the Erudite had planned to do with their simulation serum until it was too late. Everyone including their own soldiers believed them and went back to their daily lives as best they could, given the circumstances, all the while the Dauntless leadership continued to meet with the Erudite in secret.

And the next batch of initiates have been tested and chosen.


	2. Prologue

Samantha Williams wiped her sweaty palms against her yellow cotton pants as the train neared the platform where she and her fellow initiates were supposed to jump on.

Just last week she saw the Dauntless do this and she remembered thinking how stupid it was to take such an unnecessary risk day in and day out and wondered why the heck her aptitude test said she should join this faction. But trusting in the result she chose to leave her happy life in Amity and joined Dauntless.

She managed to jump onto the train in time only to find herself jumping back off onto a rooftop sometime later. There the crowd gathered around a woman named Lauren standing in front of the ledge who urged them to jump into a deep black hole in order to continue their training or face being factionless.

Now Samantha wasn’t exactly afraid of the fall, more like the possible death at the end of it that scared her, so she hung back until she felt reassured that no one had died after jumping. She was almost the last jumper except a Candor boy who looked like he was going to wet his pants just looking at the hole managed to snag that title from her.

The room was cold and dark compared to her home in Amity where the windows let in as much sunlight they could and the air smelled of grass and fresh air. Here there were no windows or plants or fresh air for that matter.

Out of the shadows a man appeared and introduced himself. Samantha recognized him from the newspaper the previous year. His name was Eric and he was a Dauntless leader. He was bigger than he looked in the picture, she guessed around 6 feet tall and his shoulders were almost just as wide she thought, but his stare was just as cold and intimidating as depicted.

She shrank into the crowd as best she could to avoid his gaze but her bright yellow outfit set her up for failure. Smirking he said, “Amity! Wow, Abnegation I can get with their boring lives but I didn’t think you guys even knew there was a city beyond your farms. Trying to impress a boy or something?” He teased. Samantha scowled and did not reply.

The Dauntless-born left with a guy named Zeke while Eric showed them their dormitory. It was a long cement room with bunk beds to sleep up to ten people even though there were eleven of them. To remedy that Eric suggested they draw straws on who got the floor and then he left shouting that training started at 8 am the next morning.

Thankfully Samantha didn’t get the short straw and she got a bunk close to the bathroom. Everyone got dressed into the Dauntless uniforms that were provided by the wall and Lauren came by to give them the grand tour and show them the way to the dining hall.

The dining hall was loud with numerous voices shouting and laughing as people chattered amongst themselves. The long tables were packed so much that they had to find spaces between strangers just to sit down.

Samantha chose a spot between a girl with long braided brown hair and a boy with a short blue Mohawk style. Neither of them were talking with the same group of people so she sat there eating her food with two different conversations going on either side of her. The girl and her friends talked about the cute male instructor Zeke who was training the Dauntless-born initiates and the other group to her left were discussing the best way to fix a broken leg out in the wilderness.

Without thinking Samantha responded with, “If the bone is poking through you need to push it back into place and rinse the wound off before wrapping it up with a fabric of some kind, most likely a shirt. Once it’s tightly wrapped you need to make a splint with a couple of strong stick like materials and wrap those securely to the leg, one on the inner side and one on the outside. Then find something to help walk like a crutch or another person to help you and try to avoid dragging the foot.” She took a bite of her meatloaf and chewed thoughtfully as the guys just looked at her.

“Yeah that sounds about right. How did you know?” The blue haired boy next to her asked.

“I’m from Amity, when we turn 14 all children are required to volunteer at the hospital for 2 years before the choosing ceremony, they believe it is a useful skill for everyone to have no matter the faction they are in.”

The boy smiled and offered her his hand. “You might come in handy, I’m Kyle and these are my friends Terrance, Nate and Rolly. We’re Dauntless-born initiates.”

“Sam.” She replied shaking his hand. “Rolly is an odd name.” She commented.

Kyle leaned over and whispered, “It’s short for Rowland but he hates that name so don’t ever call him that.” Samantha nodded in understanding.

“Well, it’s too bad we won’t be training together but if you ever want to hang out after class look us up.” Nate said as they got up to leave with their empty trays.

Sam grinned to herself, she was glad she managed to make some new friends.

Once the guys left the girl next to her gave her a scrutinizing look. “A pretty girl like you should be careful. The guys around here aren’t as nice and gentle as they are back in Amity. Who is your instructor?” She asked.

Somewhat uncomfortable with her news Sam told her it was Eric.

The girl grimaced. “Especially watch out for him, he’s as mean as they come and really hard on the newbies.”

Not surprised by this information Sam smiled softly and said, “Thanks for letting me know, I’m Sam by the way.” She stuck her hand out in a peaceful gesture.

The girl looked at her hand and got up. “Don’t be too nice around here or you might not survive.” Her friends looked Sam’s way a few times as they walked away from the table.

Maybe making friends wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d thought.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be switching between Eric and Sam's POV for each chapter. So this one is Eric's.

When Eric arrived at the training room to find the Dauntless-born initiates practicing before 8 am and his transfers nowhere to be seen, he marched down to their dormitory. The lights where off and everyone was still asleep so he banged his metal coffee cup hard against the railing so it made a loud clanging noise to serve as a wakeup call.

“Get up Initiates! Training starts in 5 minutes, if you’re not there by then don’t bother showing up at all!” He shouted at them.

It was hard to see in the dark but he could hear them getting up quickly and getting dressed. He chose not to turn the lights on to serve as part of training, but the doorway was lit by the hallway light so he could only see the outline of people going by. Most of them were bumping into each other or walls and beds.

He smirked as he watched the time tick by on his watch until someone tripped over another’s foot and fell into him. Judging from the smaller size and feminine oomph sound she made when she bumped into his chest it was a girl and the golden halo of light around her head suggested that it was the Amity girl.

“I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to bump into you, I tripped.” She hurriedly apologized.

Eric straightened himself out and put his hand over her mouth. “Stop apologizing. Dauntless don’t say sorry or explain themselves with petty excuses. Get going.” He told her sternly.

She ran the rest of the way to catch up with the others while he followed behind in a light jog.

“Line up!” He shouted.

Once everyone stood in a row facing him he paced back and forth. “From now on when I say training starts at 8 am that doesn’t mean you sleep in until 8 am. It means that I want to see your scrawny asses in here by 7:45 practicing!”

Mumbled Okays were the responses he got. Eric stopped pacing and put his hand behind his ear. “What was that initiates?”

“Okay.” They said louder.

Eric glared at them. “Here in Dauntless we don’t say ‘okay’. We say ‘Yes sir’. And that is what I want to hear from you each and every time I give you an order.”

“Yes sir!” They shouted.

“Better. Today I’m going to show you the proper techniques for hand to hand combat and tomorrow we will start the fight matches. You will be scored each and every match so it’s in your best interest to win. You will also be scored during other training sessions like knife throwing and shooting a gun. At the end of stage one of training you will be ranked and if your ranking falls under the red line of this board you will not move on to stage two and will be factionless. Even though you aren’t training with the Dauntless-born you will still be ranked with them so good luck.” He explained.

Eric showed them a few moves and hung back as he watched them practice together. Only a few were actually picking up the moves rather well while the rest fumbled about. A couple of Erudite boys and surprisingly the Amity girl. Eric watched her closely as she moved. Gracefully and smoothly executing the actions with ease, getting faster each time it was her turn.

As time passed on he found himself also admiring her long wavy golden hair as it swished back and forth with her movements. His eye twitched slightly and he moved on before he hoped anyone noticed his staring.


	4. Chapter 4

Sweat poured down Samantha’s back from the hours of training she had just endured. Eric released them for a lunch break and starving, they all headed to the dining hall. It wasn’t very busy this time of day seeing as most people were at work or away at school so they all managed to sit together at a table.

Samantha knew eleven initiates made it to training but with the initial curiosity and fear of first arriving and then it being the first day of training with the wakeup call they had she didn’t have time to actually meet any of them. She had practised with an Erudite boy named Silas who like her caught on really well to the techniques of hand to hand combat but here she could finally make out the rest of them.

No one came from Abnegation this year since they had all gone into hiding so that left her as the only Amity and two Candors, Mark and Stacey. All the rest were from Erudite, five boys and three girls to be exact, Silas and Ben where the bigger ones but not by much.

There was a gap in the seating directly across from Samantha so they sat more to her right, both were shoving chicken legs down their throats trying to gain more muscle for the rest of training. Next to her on the right was Cassidy and Mark who had paired up for today’s training session and seemed to be making googly eyes at each other.

Rolling her eyes at them she looked over to her left. Next to her there was Stacey, Ashlyn and Astrid who were chatting about the similarities in their old faction’s lifestyles. And across from them were Grant, Syd and Berkley talking about the initiation process, that is until Eric sat himself down between Berkley and Silas.

The chatter immediately simmered down to whispers with the occasional glance at him as he sat there eating his chicken quietly. Samantha could feel the tension around the table increase with his presence and even though he was quietly eating, his cold stare gazed around at them, calculating. Eventually they rested across the table at Samantha and she bowed her head trying to become invisible, if only that was possible.

“Mind passing the salt, Sunshine?” He directed the request at her. Frowning she handed him the shaker.

“How very kind of you, Sunshine.” He smirked.

She really wanted to smack him for the comment but instead said, “My name’s Sam, not Sunshine.”

“Oh it is now.” He replied.

She forced herself to ask, “Why?”

He licked his fingers and smiled. “Because you’re so wholesome and good, just like the sun for the plants that you used to tend.”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?” She asked annoyed.

He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. “Nah.”

Samantha decided she didn’t feel like sitting there being insulted more than she had and got up to finish her lunch in the hallway.

Once lunch was over and everyone was back in the training room Eric said he would show them a few different moves from the ones they learnt that morning. Since there was an odd number of them someone had to practice on their own. The moves earlier allowed for easy practice with the punching bags but these were more complicated and required a partner.

“Sunshine, you’re with me.” Eric called and waved her over to a spot on the mat.

Groaning inward she walked over to him and stood there looking at him.

“Well? Let’s go Sunshine.” He waited for her to come closer and she did.

“These are some basic self defense moves that you should master if you want to survive a fight. Best targets are the eyes, ears, nose, neck, legs, knees and your favourite ladies, the groin. Now little Miss Sunshine over here is smaller than I am, but using these techniques she can still defend herself pretty well. It’s always best to hit one of these targets without getting closer if you can. So if she’s this far away from me it would be better for her to kick me on the side of the knee or leg to knock me off balance as well as inflict pain.” He said demonstrating as he pretended to kick Samantha the way he described.

“If she was closer then she could knee me in the groin like so. Or perhaps using the palm of her hand thrusting it upwards into my nose, she could also hand knife me in the neck or poke me in the eyes.” He continued to demonstrate on her.

Then he motioned for her to come closer to him some more. Samantha hesitated so he grabbed her shoulders and spun her around so he held her from behind. She was uncomfortable with the way he felt warm against her and how dainty she felt compared to his larger frame, because it was nice and she did not like that feeling. But he continued on like it was an ordinary everyday thing.

“Now if I hold her like this she can still use her elbow and thrust that into my nose and neck and if she can’t get her arm free, her head will work too. Everyone got that?” They all nodded and separated into their teams of two to practice.

Eric let her go and she straightened her clothes out. The first few moves were easy for her to do, especially if he called her Sunshine, but the last ones where he held her were a challenge to clear her head and remember what to do. She admitted to herself that he was extremely attractive but he was also a complete dick and she could never like someone like that, if only he were uglier…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How is everyone liking the story so far? Feel free to let me know! Thanks for reading!


	5. Chapter 5

Eric could tell by how much she stiffened when he held her that she was uncomfortable with the position, so he tried to piss her off into forgetting about it.

“Maybe I should call you Stiff instead of Sunshine. The way you freeze up with physical contact reminds me of them.”

That worked, because she head butted him in the nose and it started bleeding. Eric let her go and wiped the blood away with his hand. Not wanting to show how much it hurt or how surprised he was by the attack he crouched into a stance and egged her to come closer.

Everyone else in the room stopped practicing and watched them. She hesitated at first but went into position and they started again. This time when he held her from behind he avoided her elbow to the face and flipped her onto the mat with a loud smack; Samantha laid there stunned.

“And that’s how to attack someone who is in a defending position. Class dismissed.” He said and began to head for the washroom.

As he left he could hear one of the initiate boys offer his hand to help Sam up and the rest congratulated her on making him bleed. She didn’t say anything in return.

The men’s washroom was around the corner from the training room and Eric looked at his reflection in the mirror. The florescent lighting made him look pale compared to the bright red blood that trickled from his nose and he knew it would probably swell by tomorrow if he didn’t put something on it soon. He couldn’t show his face looking like he let anyone get a good shot in, especially a female initiate, when he had standards he was expected to maintain.

Dauntless leaders were supposed to be the best in their classes and it irked him that he only got the position because Four turned it down. Coming in second wasn’t what he was sent there to do, but his ass was saved when Four chose to monitor surveillance instead. Training this year would be even tougher without Four to be the softy so Eric could look crueler than he really tried to be, but now it was all him and he couldn’t look soft.

After he cleaned himself up, he went down to the infirmary for a serum to stop his nose from bruising and then headed off to an early dinner. Most of the initiates and trainers would be there by this time stuffing their faces with food to fuel the body they had just worked out.

Tonight’s meal was pork chops in gravy with mashed potatoes and various veggies. Eric sat down at an empty table and piled his plate up. Across the room he could see his transfers talking animatedly with each other. He studied them while Zeke sat down next to him and put food on his own plate.

“Hey Eric, how’s your nose? I saw the whole thing go down.” Zeke said with a bun in his mouth.

Eric pursed his lips and shrugged. “It’s fine, a bit tender but I deserved it.”

“What happened this time?” Zeke laughed.

“I wanted to see how she would react if I pissed her off.”

“Guess you got your answer then.” Zeke chuckled and Eric nodded in reply.

“So, she your best initiate then? She was moving pretty good there today.”

“I don’t know. Yeah, she has the technique down, but Amity is all about peace. They would do anything to avoid confrontation and violence and I don’t see that kind of mindset disappearing that fast. Tomorrow will tell if she can actually fight or not. My money is on Silas, he picked up the moves just as fast and he’s strong.” Eric said just as Samantha and her friends burst into laughter over at their table.

 

His eye twitched as he watched them. “What about your initiates? Any of them cause trouble yet?” He asked Zeke.

“The usual smart ass comments so far but it’s only the first day.” Zeke shrugged.

“Better nip that in the butt before they think they can walk all over you.” Eric advised.

“Any suggestions?”

“Tell them: the next one to open their mouth will end up at the bottom of the board. That usually does it.”


	6. Chapter 6

Hitting Eric must have been the cool thing to do because everyone afterwards was congratulating her on the way to dinner where Samantha now sat laughing with her fellow initiates. Mark had been trying to balance a spoon on the edge of his nose when it fell into his mashed potatoes and splattered onto his face; the laughter was beginning to wear away the initial shock she had from the end of class, where she had actually hit someone on purpose.

Never in her life had she even thought of doing something like that and when she did it, it felt good to shut him up, even if he threw her to the mat after in revenge. But she had a sinking feeling in her stomach that she might not be able to physically fight with the people who sat around her now. How could she hurt others when there really wasn’t any reason to? It was only practice, not the real thing, so why make the pain so real?

She must have been zoned out thinking for too long because Silas was waving his hand in front of her face. “Hey, earth to Sunshine!” He laughed and Sam scowled.

“Don’t call me that.”

“What, you don’t like your new nickname?” He asked sarcastically.

Samantha’s expression simply said ‘what do you think?’

“Wonder why he chose that name for you.” Silas contemplated.

“You heard him earlier, it’s because she’s so wholesome!” Stacey laughed and hugged Sam’s arm.

“I think it’s really because your hair is so golden.” Berkley proposed.

Sam looked in Eric’s direction where he was conversing with his fellow instructor, Zeke, until Kyle and his friends brought his attention her way. She quickly looked away hoping he didn’t notice.

“Hey Sam, we saw you give it good to Eric! Head to the nose, nice!” He said loudly, holding his hand up for a high five. Smiling a bit embarrassed she hit his hand with hers.

Kyle leaned in closer and said loud enough for the rest of the table to hear, “Watch yourself though, Eric’s known to retaliate when you stand up to him. Rumor has it that last year he made, Tris, who was last in rankings during first stage, fight with a guy ranked at the top because she stopped him from throwing knives at another initiate. Just so you know.” Pretty much everyone at the table looked ill at ease.

“Great and the real fights start tomorrow, so looking forward to that now.”

Silas chuckled at her comment; Kyle smiled too. “Have any plans for tonight?” He asked her.

“Not really. I was maybe going to get some more clothes and then head to bed, not that I think I will get much sleep anyway but I plan to try.” She replied.

Stacey perked up. “Ooo, came I come with you? I’ve been meaning to get my shopping on too.”

“Us too please!” Chimed the other three girls.

“Uh, ok. Looks like I just made a play date.” Sam said to Kyle with a grin.

“Well, if you’re free on Friday night bring your friends to The Pit Stain ‘cause my brother is gonna be the DJ and we can hang out.” He said as his friends began leaving.

“Sounds like fun.” Sam waved him and his friends good-bye.

The girls eventually left the boys to go shopping in The Pit. When they first arrived, Dauntless only provided them with one set of training gear and a certain amount of points they could use as they pleased each month. Since they had used that one outfit that day and had been sweating in them, it was a good idea to get some more.

Sam browsed the shirt racks for a style she liked. All the clothes were black or red but they did come in many different styles to choose from so she picked out a few black t-shirts and black pants that were good for training in. She was sorting through socks and underwear when Astrid came over to inspect what she chose.

“Is that all you’re going to get? T-shirts and pants?” She asked like she was offended.

“Yeah, I wasn’t planning on getting anything fancy until I know I won’t be factionless, you know.” Sam explained with a shrug.

“But what about the party on Friday?!”

Sam looked at her confused. “I’ll put clean ones on.”

“Are you serious?” Astrid asked her.

“Yeah… In Amity we wear what’s comfortable.”

“You’re not in Amity anymore, lady! We need to get you a dress!” Astrid exclaimed, immediately going to the racks containing the fancier articles of clothing that Samantha avoided.

Samantha smiled at her enthusiasm and let Astrid pick something out for her. She probably would never wear it, but just in case the occasion ever arouse she supposed it was good to have.

Then she headed off to bed, her new clothes folded nicely in the trunk sitting at the base of the bunk beds she shared with Ashlyn. She had trouble falling asleep at first, wondering what tomorrow would bring, until her eyelids finally closed and oblivion came.


	7. Chapter 7

Eric had just finished posting the pairings for each fight when his initiates arrived at 7:45 on the dot. Before he could turn around he heard groans from behind him as they each found their names and who they were up against.

“Today is the start of the rankings where you will each fight against another for spots to the second stage. First round is where we find out your skill level, after that if you lose to someone below your skill level you will lose points but if you beat someone with a higher skill level you will gain points.” He explained as he turned around, arms crossed at his chest. “As a tradition, the first jumper fights against the last jumper, first.” He said as he motioned them to the ring in the center of the room.

Berkley and Mark got into the ring and prepared to fight. The rest of them were too curious to bother with practicing for their own matches and so they watched with bated breaths.

“Before you begin, I should add that these fights are until one of you can’t anymore, most likely from unconsciousness. Dauntless don’t give up, even if they face death.” He said and he looked over at Samantha whose face expressed the shock that the rest must have also felt.

“Go.” He said to the two boys who stood there staring at each other.

At his words they began to circle around, each with a fist by his face and the other ready to strike. Neither one wanted to be the first to hit a friend so they dodged and ducked without making any moves.

“We don’t have all day guys.” Eric said with increasing annoyance.

The fight lasted longer than it should have but Berkley was the clear winner and would have been sooner had he fought with purpose earlier on. Mark was on the floor to the side with Cassidy, who held an ice pack to his temple.

The next fight was Astrid against Ashlyn who both decided to just get it over with. Ashlyn made the first move and struck air because Astrid was faster, she ducked and punched Ashlyn in the side and knocked the breath out of her. They were similar builds so it seemed to be an even match and eventually Astrid won.

Finally the pair that he was most anxious about came up, Silas against Samantha. He put them together for two reasons, one because they both new the moves best and might have the same skill level despite the body difference since Samantha was faster and two was to show them that this wasn’t a song and dance. The boys needed to know that they could hit a girl and the girls needed to learn how to fight a bigger opponent.

The two initiates joined each other in the ring and got into ready position; Eric noticed that Samantha looked worried. Silas swung his large arm out and she avoided it with ease but she didn’t hit back. He swung again and again she got out of the way. What was she doing?

“Make a move Sunshine!” Eric barked at her.

She pursed her lips and watched Silas intently. He kicked at her side, she caught his leg with her left arm and then let go and backed up.

“Sunshine! Get your ass in gear and hit him back!” Eric shouted.

Samantha deflected a few more attacks before Silas finally managed to grab her and held her in a choke hold until she passed out. Silas was smart enough to figure out that he didn’t have to beat her up to end the fight that way. Extra points for him, because Eric was grateful that he didn’t have to watch her be turned into a bloody pulp.

Her classmates looked concerned when Silas picked up her limp body and carried her over to the benches where he laid her down and waited with her until she woke up. Eric didn’t say anything but they could see the muscle in his jaw moving.


	8. Chapter 8

Samantha woke up with a head ache and realized that she was lying on a bench in the training room. In the ring, Cassidy was just finishing up her fight with Grant, who took a palm to the nose and fainted at the sight of his blood running through his fingers from the break. Ben and Berkley pulled him over to the side and gave him a rag for his nose once he woke up.

Eric called everyone over to the board, well everyone who was awake anyway, and Samantha noticed that the only one not hobbling over was Silas. She must have been the only one not to throw a punch today, she thought glumly.

“Today’s ranking results show your skill level within this class. Number one is the best and number 11 is the worst. Congrats Silas, you made it to the top of the board thanks to Sunshine’s pathetic attempt. Extra points for not a scratch on you and for using your brain.” He said to Silas, though he was glaring Samantha down.

“Everyone take a break and whoever doesn’t need the infirmary I want you to practice your moves for the rest of the day. I need to check up on the Dauntless-born training so you’ll be on your own. Tomorrow we start target practice at the firing range.” He said as he walked across the room to where the Dauntless-born initiates were throwing knives.

Berkley had to fight twice, since there was an odd number of them, and the second time around his partner Syd knocked him out so he, Grant, Mark, Stacey and Ashlyn left for the infirmary to get fixed up.

Cassidy, Ben and Syd left to grab a snack from the dining hall so that left Samantha with Silas and Astrid in the training room. Astrid threw herself down onto the mat and rested her eyes.

“What happened to you today, Sam? Why didn’t you hit me?” Silas asked her with concern; Astrid peeked one eye open, curious about it too.

Samantha sighed. “I just couldn’t do it. I was raised to not physically or emotionally fight with someone.”

Astrid sat up and leaned against her arms. “Yeah, but you do it all the time when you talk back to Eric and even when you bashed his nose in yesterday. You’re less Amity than you think you are.” Astrid said in comfort.

“Yeah, but that’s just with Eric. It just comes out when he’s around and I can’t seem to stop myself.”

“Maybe we should get Eric to fight you then.” Silas joked.

“He would crush me, have you seen the size of that guy?” Samantha replied with a smile.

“But it would be better than not fighting at all. How about trying to picture Eric as your opponent the next time you have to beat someone up.” He suggested.

“Hmm… I could try.”

Silas grabbed her hand and pulled her up. “We’ll start now. Imagine I’m Eric with that pissed off look on my face. Hit me Sunshine! Hit the cocky smirk off my face.” Silas said bouncing back and forth like a goofball and the girls laughed at him.

“I’m glad you find me amusing.” They heard Eric’s deep voice say.

Startled, they jumped and saw him leaning against one of the pillars off to their left not looking amused himself. He sauntered over and got into Silas’s face. “You want to wipe the smirk off my face you say. Now’s your chance initiate.”

Silas stepped back. “I can’t win against you. I’m not good enough yet.” He said nervously.

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you opened your mouth.” Eric said with menace and grabbed Silas’s shirt.

Panicked, Samantha touched Eric’s forearm. “Please don’t do this.”

He slowly turned to look at her hand touching his arm and then at her face. He could see the light smattering of freckles that adorned her nose and her blue eyes misting with tears. “Are you willing to take his place?” He asked her.

She didn’t know what to do and so she hesitated. This was real violence and she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. Something passed behind his eyes as he watched her internally struggle. Finally, he shrugged her hand off his arm and punched Silas in the mouth. It took only a second and then he stormed off as Silas fell back and sat on the floor caressing his split lip. The girls rushed over to make sure he was ok.

“I’m sorry, Silas.” Samantha earnestly apologized.

“All will be forgiven if you give me a kiss.” He joked and puckered his lips.

Sam smiled faintly and shoved him lightly. He was ok, but Eric was another story and he scared the crap out of her.


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning Eric and his initiates were on the roof getting ready to shoot targets that were lined up against one of the walls. He watched as each one of them picked up a gun from the table by the door and chose a target.

“Alright, this is where you get to shoot a gun. For those of you from factions like Amity, guns are the things that you are holding in your hands to hurt people with.” He said with mock humor.

He ignored the curse that he saw Samantha mouth and continued with his speech. “First rules of firearms: Do not point your gun at anything unless you intend to shoot it, always remember to keep the safety on unless you intend to shoot it and last, don’t shoot yourself.” He said as he paced back and forth behind them. “I want you to start shooting at the middle of the targets as best you can, I will go around and correct you as you go.”

Eric watched them all miss their first shot, but only some stumbled back from the recoil. As they tried again he corrected stances and gave advice as he approached Samantha with hesitation. He kicked her feet apart so she had better balance and told her to relax her arms, but he refused to touch her to show her what he meant. Next to her in line was Silas and Eric just glared at him as he walked past, not offering the boy anything even though he could have used it.

From the opposite end of the line he watched them some more, often finding himself concentrating on the Amity girl the most. Samantha hit her target near the edge on her third shot and after that she got used to the correct position and managed to keep hitting her target several more times.

“Maybe there’s hope for you yet, Sunshine.” Eric said quietly as he walked past her a second time.

Most of them managed to hit the target more than not by the end of class, although Samantha was by far the best so far. He watched her leave, laughing and high fiving her friends with the excitement that she was good at something. There was hope she might make it if she could keep up the shooting and finally get in a win or two during her matches.

He followed them to the dining hall for lunch where he sat alone at a table stabbing his food with his fork and jabbing it into his mouth. He was amazed when Samantha sat down across from him by herself. He slowed down his chewing and set his fork down in confusion

“What are you doing?” He asked her.

“I’m eating my lunch.” She replied and stuffed a french fry into her mouth.

“I can see that, but your friends are over there.” He pointed to a few tables over where her friends watched them in astonishment.

“I know, but I wanted to sit with you.”

“Can’t get enough of my charm, can you?” He smirked without meaning.

“OK, I’ll cut the crap. I wanted to ask you if we could start over and be friends.” She replied, hope shining in her eyes.

Eric laughed loudly. “Friends?! I’m your instructor. We aren’t supposed to be friends.”

Samantha sighed in defeat.

“Look, it’s my job to train you to survive life here at Dauntless and nothing more. What would I want with an Amity girl who won’t even fight as a friend, anyway? I wouldn’t trust you to have my back in a fight, that’s for sure.” He said to purposely be mean.

He cursed at himself as she stood with her tray of food, looking crushed, and went back over to her original table leaving him alone once again. He sure knew how to charm the ladies, didn’t he? No wonder he hadn’t had a girlfriend since he became a leader. To them he was a scary badass who was good for a roll in the hay, but long term, he was too harsh and here she was coming to forgive him and he still pushed her away. But like he told her it was his job to toughen her up to survive even it meant that he had to hurt her feelings. That was more important than how he felt about her.

He had hoped that maybe if she got through initiation and became a member, then he could show her his nice side and change her mind, but he doubted that would ever happen now. So he decided to continue what he did best and play the mean guy to get them ready for real life.


	10. Chapter 10

The rest of that afternoon they ran laps around the training room to build up endurance and afterward Samantha skipped dinner and slept like a log the whole night.

The next day was another day for fight matches and she was paired with Grant, but she again couldn’t bring herself to hit him as she ignored Eric’s screams at her to fight. Even with her points from the firing range the day before, she managed to only move up one spot. She had four more weeks to get above the red line or end up getting cut like Eric reminded her of everyday.

Today they were back at the firing range, but this time the targets were moving and Samantha found that she had a really hard time hitting them with maybe one out of three shots actually hitting the board. She growled in frustration when she had missed for the tenth time and was about the throw her gun to the ground when two strong arms came around her and aimed her hands at the target for her.

“Relax and watch. Eventually the target will come to you and when it does you shoot. When you get comfortable with that then you can start to predict where they will be and shoot when they are in different positions.” He said and he began shooting in quick succession still using her hands to do so and hitting every target. A tingle went up her spine from the rush, or possibly the fear, of knowing that he could do such a thing with ease.

Class ended on a bad note for her though, because after Eric helped her out all she could think of was the feeling of him pressed up against her from behind and she couldn’t concentrate if her life depended on it, which it kinda did.

After dinner was over, she threw herself onto her bed and laid there with her arm over her eyes. It was Friday night, when Kyle’s brother was playing at The Pit Stain, and the others were getting ready for their first night out.

“Coming to the party with us?” Astrid asked Sam.

“No, I feel like staying here and having myself a pity party instead.” She sighed in reply.

Astrid rolled her eyes. “No way are you going to beat yourself up here all alone on a Friday night. Get up and shower while I get your outfit ready. That’s an order.” She said pulling Sam up by the hand.

The hot water felt nice against Samantha’s sore muscles and she began to relax. Maybe the party wouldn’t be so bad and she could forget all about training for one night. Now determined to have some fun with her friends she finished showering and joined Astrid at her bunk. She had the dress nicely laid out on the bed for her matched with some borrowed black heels and a necklace.

The material was a slinky Dauntless red so when she put it on it clung to every curve she had. The skirt fell just above her knees and only left her legs when she turned. It was one of those dresses that was good to dance in. But what Sam hadn’t realized when she originally bought it on Astrid’s advice was that the neckline was a plunging v that reached past her breasts and the necklace she gave her was low hung as well so it drew attention to that area.

“Geez Astrid! I can’t go walking around like this!” She exclaimed in embarrassment.

“And why not? You look hot!”

“Probably because a lot of guys will be staring at me and I don’t mean my face. In Amity we don’t dress provocatively so as not to draw unwanted attention that could lead to a confrontation of some sort.”

“Forget about your past faction and think about the now, Sam. Do you feel good in this dress?” She asked her and Sam nodded shyly. “Then that’s all that matters. You don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to and we’ll back you up, so don’t worry.” Astrid reassured her.

It was dark and crowded in the club that night. Most of the lighting was a dark shade of red with a few white strobe lights that roamed around the room from the stage which made finding Kyle and his friends a bit hard until their eyes adjusted to the new environment. When they found them, someone offered her a beer which she turned down because she wanted to stay clear headed for training the next day. She couldn’t afford to lose any more points on her target practice if she wanted to survive training without hitting anyone.


	11. Chapter 11

Eric stood by the wall in The Pit Stain drinking a beer and listening to his friends jabber on about the factionless getting rowdy earlier, which wasn’t an uncommon event so his attention drifted off and that was when he saw her.

Sam and her friends were standing in a corner near the stage with a group of the Dauntless-born initiates he’d seen talking to her on previous occasions. Her dress was close fitting and above her knees. He hadn’t seen her legs before and they looked long and toned. He had the sudden urge to caress his way up her thighs to cup her bottom under the skirt. At the image all the blood in his brain travelled to his lower organ and he gulped his beer.

His friends followed his gaze and whistled. “Who’s the hottie in the dress?!”

Eric cleared his throat and gave his best emotionless look. “She’s one of my transfer initiates.”

“Eric has the hots for a student!” His buddy laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.

“I don’t have the hots for her and I doubt she does for me either.” He denied.

“Then you wouldn’t mind if we tried our luck then?” His other friend asked with a smirk.

“ALL initiates are off limits during training.” Eric snapped at them.

“Ok, ok.” His friend said in surrender.

They continued to watch her in silence as she laughed at something Kyle said to her. Then Kyle pointed toward the stage, she turned around to see what he was showing her and Eric could see the deep v that exposed a good amount of cleavage.

“The view just got better.” Eric’s friend muttered into his beer as he stared. Eric glared at them and walked towards Sam and her friends.

“Isn’t it bed time for you initiates?” He asked the group when he neared.

Surprised, the transfers looked at him like they never thought a leader would be in a place like that.

“It’s 9 o’clock and I remember someone saying we we’re allowed to do as we pleased after 6 pm.” Samantha piped up.

He looked her from head to toe; the view was better up close but he tried not to look for too long. “Didn’t anyone tell you that the boys here aren’t as nice as Amity ones? An outfit like that will get you into trouble.”

“Actually yes, on my first day, never caught her name though… Oh wait she’s right over there.” She replied pointing to a girl dancing by the stage.

“That would be Tamara. She say anything about me?” He asked her.

“Said you were the worst of them… mean boys that is. Funny how she grouped you with the boys and not the men.” Sam smiled sweetly.

“Of course she would.” He said looking back at the girl they were talking about.

“What did you do? Sleep with her and not call?” Sam asked not expecting an answer.

“Something like that.”

“Oh... Did it ever occur to you that maybe she actually liked you, as mind-boggling as that might be?” Samantha asked.

“No.” He said simply as he glanced down at her.

Uncomfortable with the direction of the conversation, Eric decided to take his leave. “Make sure you guys get enough sleep, tomorrow is another big day.”

Because the music was loud enough that they had to shout to be heard, as he left he could still hear their conversation and he slowed to catch most of it.

“You were right, that dress does draw unwanted attention.” Astrid said as she watched Eric walk back to his friends.

“Do you think he likes you?” Stacey asked Sam who shook her head no.

“Who purposely pisses off someone they like on a daily bases?”

“I think he’s just horny and he liked the way you looked.” Rolly eyed her up.

“Yeah well, I’m not sleeping with anyone during training so keep your eyes up here.” She told him as she circled her face.

His friends booed him when he got back to their standing area across the room. “Shut down by the school girl weren’t you? What a shame.”

“What? I said she’s off limits and I meant it. I only told them to not stay out too late.”

“Party pooper. We used to stay out every night when we were initiates! Let them have some fun.” His friend said.

Eric agreed silently and watched Samantha until she left around 11:30 pm. He told his friends he was tired and followed her out to make sure she got back to the dormitory safely. He also meant it when he said a dress like that could get her into trouble and he wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. When she went through the dormitory doors he turned down another hallway and went to his own apartment.


	12. Chapter 12

That night was war games and when all the initiates gathered on the train headed towards the Navy Pier, Eric and Zeke chose teams. Pretty much everyone else got picked before Samantha and Grant and when it was Eric’s turn, he sighed.

“Sunshine.” He said like he knew she was going to be a burden rather than a help and her stomach fell when he called her name.

They passed out the bullet simulation guns and everyone on her team jumped off the train into the dark and headed in the opposite direction that the other team took. Eric walked beside her to their destination.

“If your fight matches are any indication, I’m guessing you’re not going to shoot anyone either or am I wrong?”

Samantha chose to stay quiet, because she wasn’t sure herself, and Eric stopped her with a hand on her arm.

“I don’t need you getting in the way of the others so I want you to stick to me like glue, got it? There’s no point in you getting shot if you won’t shoot back.” He said irritated. He fastened his pace to reach the front of the line without waiting for her to answer.

Samantha felt useless. No one believed that she could do it, not even her friends Silas and Astrid, who took the first chance they got to pair up and go after the other’s flag leaving her there to follow behind Eric. She crouched behind a wall watching his broad back, because she couldn’t see anything past his large body.

He turned to look at her and whispered, “Ok, you need to do everything I do, run when I run and hide when I hide. Try to stay hidden behind me as much as possible.” Samantha nodded in response.

Thirty minutes past and her legs were cramping from the crouch she tried to hold, ready to move if Eric did so.

“Stop fidgeting.” He snapped at her.

“How much longer is it going to take? I can’t stay like this for much longer.” She complained.

“For as long as it takes. They need to figure out where our flag is and then make their way here and that could take time, depending on how smart they are. Maybe we’ll get lucky and the team we sent out to find their flag will get there first and we won’t have to bother. But where’s the fun in that?” He grinned.

His smile brightened up his face and she could tell he was genuinely having fun at the prospect of shooting people, even if it was for fun. Uneasy about looking down at someone else’s barrel aimed to shoot her, she trusted that Eric would keep her safe and she thought that was an odd feeling to have.

There were moments about him that she felt she could see a softer side like this one and last night when he made sure she got home safe without attracting attention to his presence as if he didn’t want her to know he was being nice. But then he always managed to ruin them with his moments of cruelty and she couldn’t tell which one he truly was.

Off in the distance gun shots went off and she could hear a couple of screams pierce the cool air. Eric tensed up and looked around the edge of the wall.

“Don’t fall behind.” He said and quickly ran across to the abandoned carnival ring toss game and shot someone just as she caught up to him.

Again he moved up another row and shot two more people and then turned the corner to the right before she could see where he went. She rounded the corner and froze when Berkley pointed his gun at her, but then someone roughly pulled her sleeve into the space between the games. Eric shoved her behind him and waited for Berkley to come closer. But instead of coming to the spot where they waited Berkley went around the back and was behind Samantha.

“Gotcha.” He said with triumph.

Quick as lightning Eric was covering her and took the two bullets that were meant for her in the back; he shouted in pain and crumpled to the ground. Berkley advanced on her with his gun aimed, but he was paying more attention to Eric, not expecting her to shoot him, and without thinking Samantha shot him in the leg.

“Shit, I just shot him.” She said to herself as Berkley limped away.

“Keep doing it, I won’t be able to shoot, arggg, until the pain goes away.” Eric told her between groans.

He was laying on his side so she knelt over him to look at his back. “Do I need to take them out or something?”

“That would be nice.” He replied sarcastically despite the pain.

She yanked one out and to keep from crying out, he bit his hand hard from the agony. Apologizing, she pulled out the second one and he buried his head into the side of her stomach. As the pain receded, he pulled away and rolled onto his back once they were out and laid there cursing.

Samantha picked up her gun again and waited for Eric to get better but before that happened, two dauntless-born initiates from the other team came around the corner and she shot each of them. By the time they fell, Eric was fine and he got up with his gun. They moved on to the next row and she had to shoot another enemy from behind her. She giggled, this was actually fun. Eric looked back at her and smiled quickly and proceeded to shoot more advancing initiates.

Not long after, word spread to them that Silas had got the flag and the game was over; Eric’s team had won. He shouted with joy and spun Samantha around, then set her down when he realized what he did and got serious.

“Nice work initiate.” He nodded to her with supressed joy and she knew it was because this was supposedly the first time his team had ever won.

As she stood next to him on the train ride home she couldn’t help but notice the corner of his mouth twitched every once in a while like he was holding in a smile and sometimes he would look down at her from the corner of his eye.

“So how come you will shoot someone but not hit them?” He asked and the sound of his voice surprised her, but she stopped the flinch before it happened.

“They looked like they hurt and I didn’t want to get shot.” She replied coolly.

“Really?” He looked at her surprised.

“Yes and because it seemed less personal, I guess.”

The train neared the compound and people started to get off. “Or maybe you’re turning less Amity and more Dauntless. It’s about time Sunshine.” He said to her just before he jumped off.

Samantha wondered if he was right and jumped too.


	13. Chapter 13

Another two weeks passed and Eric stared at the rankings board, Samantha’s name was now fourth from the bottom and still well below the line. Her gunmanship and knife throwing had improved after the war game, but her fighting was still lacking by much. She threw one or two good hits now and again but only if her opponent had her in a hold. Luckily for her, most of her friends just choked her until she passed out to avoid hurting her much. If she didn’t win today’s fight he was going to have to take drastic measures to get her to pass.

Samantha’s opponent that day was the best in the class, Silas. He had hoped to talk him into giving her a real beating to the point where her survival instincts would surface and she would fight back. There was only one week left of the first stage and he couldn’t coddle her anymore in hopes that she would outgrow her Amity upbringing.

“Silas, I want a word with you.” He said loudly when his initiates started pouring into the room. Silas came over tentatively and stood far enough that Eric would have to reach if he were inclined to hit him. “I know Sunshine is your friend, but as her friend she needs you to give it a real go. No choke holds this time.”

“But she won’t hit me back. You just want me to beat her senselessly for no reason?” He asked mildly outraged.

“Not senselessly. My hope is that she will react in self defense and kick your ass like she should have a long time ago. We all know she should have been top of this class, we’ve seen her practice with the dummies; she’s fast with her execution and we know she’s good at anticipating other’s moves when she blocks most of everyone’s hits during matches. There’s no reason for her to not win, except her will to win is not there. So we’ll use her will to survive.”

Silas looked at him skeptically before answering. “Should I blow the fight if this doesn’t work?”

“No, Dauntless don’t do that, even for friends. She needs to win on her own.” Silas nodded and Eric clapped him on the shoulder in thanks.

“First match to the mat!” Eric called out.

Silas and Samantha entered the ring and prepared to fight. Silas faked a swing at her head and jabbed her in the stomach the moment she flinched to protect her face. She stumbled back, the wind knocked out of her but quickly recovered. He swung again and she blocked it even though she left herself open to an attack because she expected him to get her in a hold like always and just end it for her.

They circled each other and Silas swept her legs out from under her with his own and as soon as she was down he wailed on her. Punch after punch Samantha laid there trying to curl up to protect herself until finally she used her elbow and shoved it into Silas’s nose. He stumbled back clutching it and she got up, her face bloody and bruised. Eric felt a glimmer of hope.

The fight had lasted twice as long as normal and Silas got in a few more shots renewing the bleeding from her lip and nose. Samantha stumbled as she tried to stay out of reach, her blood dripping onto the mat. She looked tired and completely worn out, but she still refused to hit him back and when Silas looked at him for guidance, Eric clenched his jaw in anger and nodded his head to continue.

Silas shook his head when he looked back at Samantha, he couldn’t do it. He grabbed her unexpectedly and choked her to unconsciousness. Eric was furious. He tried everything he thought of, short of the threat to kill someone she loved because he couldn’t do that, not after Abnegation.

How dare she willingly let herself become factionless just to pursue the idea of peace which she gave up when she left Amity. She was going to take away the laughter and the ridiculous dancing he caught her doing with her friends when she didn’t know he was there. She was going to take away what little humanity he felt when she was around and leave him here to be cruel, cold and alone.

When she awoke not long after her fight she headed to the infirmary to get fixed up but Eric caught her by the arm and forcefully made her looked at him. “Why are you even here, Sunshine?” He fumed.

“My aptitude results came back Dauntless.” She replied angry that he grabbed her.

Eric laughed. “You don’t belong here! You’re all sunshine and rainbows and you’re going to fail because of that. Why didn’t you just stay in Amity?”

Samantha’s eyes saddened. “Because if the test told me I belonged here then that meant I didn’t belong there either. Maybe I’m destined to be factionless.” She pulled herself away from his grip and left him standing there stunned.

Once class was over for the day Eric went to Erudite’s headquarters to visit Jeanine. She let him in straight away and he sat down on the clear plastic chair in front of her polished white desk.

Jeanine took off her glasses and leaned in. “What do I owe the pleasure of your visit today, Eric?”

“I was hoping you would allow me to view one of my initiate’s aptitude tests.” He said frankly.

Her eyes widened in surprise and intrigue. “Do you think they may be Divergent?”

Eric knew there was a chance that Samantha could be, though he doubted it. She was more stubborn than Divergent in his opinion. “It’s a possibility, but I wanted to make sure myself before announcing anything.”

“And if they are?” She asked.

“I will take care of it myself.” He replied calmly.

Jeanine sat back in her chair and motioned to the door on the right of her. “Alright, you can view it in my lab.” When he got up and reached for the knob, she said to him, “Eric, don’t forget that you’re my best ally in this battle.”

He gave her a solitary nod and entered the laboratory to sit down at the computer behind another spotless white desk and found the file that held all of this year’s initiates’ tests. He typed in Samantha’s name and when her file came up he injected himself with simulation serum and entered the simulation as a spectator that she could not see.

_Samantha looked around confused at first and then that voice appeared and told her to choose. When the cheese and knife appeared he could tell she was debating which one to take, but he could not hear her inner dialog. She eventually took the knife and held it ready by her side when the pedestals disappeared._

_Then the aggressive dog appeared, Samantha looked around panicked but did not move. The dog pounced on top of her and they fell together to the floor. She pushed the dog off of her and it laid there with the knife sticking out of its chest._

_The room morphed into the inside of a bus where a man with a scared face reading a newspaper asked her if she knew the man on the front page. Of course she did, it was programed for everyone to recognize him even when they really didn’t know him. The true test was to see if they lied about it or not, because the man was accused of murder. And as expected she did lie and the test was over_. She really was Dauntless and not Divergent or Amity.

It was dusk out when he finally made it back to the Dauntless headquarters, dinner would be over soon but he decided to skip it and went to Max’s office.

“Hey Eric, how is training going?” Max asked when he noticed that Eric stood in the doorway.

“That’s why I’m here. I’m having a problem with one of them and I need to ask you for a favor.”

Max waved him over to one of the seats by his desk and crossed his fingers in front of him. “What’s the problem?” He asked with concern.

“Sunshine, I mean Samantha Williams who came from Amity. She shows a lot of promise with her skills during practice but during her real fights she refuses to actually fight. She won’t let go of Amity’s principles, but if we give her more time to train then I think we can break her of the old habits.” Eric explained to his chief.

“So you want me to give this girl a second chance when she’s not acting like a real Dauntless? I’m surprised you haven’t already tried throwing her into the chasm to prove herself if she’s been acting this way. You’re usually so good about breaking the initiates in…. Oh, I see. You like her.” Max said with realization. Eric sat there calmly, hoping he would give in this once.

“Ok, if you see potential than I will give her a chance but only one and if she doesn’t succeed that’s it. I want to see you both first thing after breakfast.” Max said sternly. Eric was ready to leave when he was stopped by Max. “If you wish to stay a leader, then I suggest you fix your own problems next time.”

Eric clenched his jaw, anger making his ears heat up, but he forced himself to leave before he said something stupid.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I am using the tattoo technique they had in the Divergent movie where they just placed a pad over the skin and it automatically tattooed on them.  
> Also want to thank everyone for the Kudos and Amy for the review! It means a lot to me!

Samantha’s day was not turning out very well. First she got the crap beaten out of her by Silas, apparently on Eric’s order, and then Eric chewed her out for loosing. What nerve the guy had, it wasn’t like she was trying to fail. Her scores had increased in everything except the fighting. She had hoped that maybe her other skills could bring her up enough that she wouldn’t have to worry about the matches, but looking at the board today told her otherwise.

She had to jump seven spots in the next week just to make the cut and her friends noticed she was depressed. To cheer her up, they dragged her to the tattoo parlor after dinner to cheer to watch Silas get inked.

‘Which one should I get?” Silas asked her and Stacey.

“I like the dragon, it looks total badass.” Stacey said.

He smiled and picked up the tablet. “Did you want to get one, Sam?” He asked her before he went over to Tori with his selection.

“No, I don’t want one and I don’t think I ever will.” She said disapprovingly.

“Why not? They’re cool and they’re part of being Dauntless.” Stacey said.

“The point of a tattoo is to stand out from others in a crowd. But in a crowd full of tattoos wouldn’t it make more sense that you would stand out more without them?” She said.

She didn’t know that Eric was on his way back from his meeting with Max and had overheard her or the fact that he was still angry about risking his position until he was standing behind her.

“The point isn’t for individuality, the tattoos are there to intimidate others especially those from other factions. Who would you be afraid of more? Someone who looked like me? Or a sweet girl, like you?” He scowled down at her.

“I don’t think it’s because of your tattoos that people are scared of you Eric, it’s because you’re mean.” She replied as equally mad at him as he was at her.

“Oh, I didn’t realize that. Here for my apologies, why don’t I buy you your first tattoo?” Eric said angrily. He grabbed her arm and sat her down in the tattoo chair; Tori walked out from behind the curtain. “She would like to get a tattoo.” He said pointing to Samantha.

“But I don’t want one.” She protested.

“You will if you want to stay in Dauntless.” He replied heatedly.

Samantha glared at him. “Can I at least pick it out?”

“Sure, as long as it’s not a lame butterfly or unicorn.”

“I want his hand print right where it is on my arm.” She said to Tori without tearing her eyes away from staring Eric down.

Tori raised an eyebrow and looked at Eric too for permission; Eric shrugged. “Go ahead, if that’s what will remind her that she’s Dauntless now.”

“Are you sure about this?” Tori asked Samantha who nodded in reply. “Ok.” Tori sighed as she placed the tattoo bandage over the fading hand print and pressed start.

The advanced tattoo machine quickly renewed the fading mark and inked over it with a blush red colour so the tattoo looked like someone was forever grabbing her. As soon as it was over, Eric left and she excused herself from her friends.

Samantha went to the dorm washroom and cried in the stall. How much more of his taunting could she handle? She was already falling below the line and he was rubbing it in. Samantha wished she had just stayed in Amity with her family.

Angry, she rubbed hard at the new tattoo wishing she could get rid of it, but it was stuck there permanently. She took a deep breath from her sobbing and heard someone come in. Quietly as she could, she pretended she wasn’t there so they wouldn’t know she was having a break down.

“You wouldn’t believe what happened to Samantha tonight.” She could hear Stacey tell Astrid.

“What happened?”

“We went to the tattoo parlor, because Silas was thinking of getting one, and we bumped into Eric. He overheard Samantha say she didn’t want one so he forced her to get one!”

“He forced her?” Astrid asked unbelieving.

“Yeah, he said she had to get one or be thrown out of Dauntless.”

Samantha could hear Astrid gasp. “Well, what did she get then?”

“His hand print.” Stacey replied.

“Why would she get his hand print tattooed on her?”

“He had grabbed her, so I think she did it to piss him off. She’s got balls, Dauntless style.” Her friend complimented her.

“Eric really has it out for her doesn’t he?”

“Sure looks that way.” Stacey agreed.

When the girls went off to bed, Samantha waited a few minutes and then tiptoed to her bunk and fell into a fitful sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

That morning Eric found the table Samantha sat at, eating her breakfast with her fellow initiates. He was nervous about what would happen during their meeting with Max but he couldn’t put it off, so he cleared his throat to announce his arrival.

“Lauren will be overseeing your training this morning while Sunshine and I have a meeting with Max.” He told the group.

Samantha, who was ignoring him up to that point, snapped her head in his direction. “What for?”

“Just something we need to discuss, best not to be late so finish up.”

Her friends watched her with concerned eyes as she got up and grabbed her tray, but Silas took it from her.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get it. Good luck.” He said softly.

She gave him a soft smile and walked past Eric with a firm face. He placed his hand on the middle of her back to guide her and she violently pulled away from him.

“Don’t touch me.” She hissed; he kept a straight face and gestured for her to go ahead.

There was a note on the office door telling them to meet Max in one of the unused training rooms so they headed off to find him. When they entered the large room, Max was waiting patiently against the table and signalled for Eric to close the door.

“Hello Samantha, you’re probably wondering why you are here.” He said.

“Yes sir.” She nervously replied.

“It has come to my attention that you have trouble following orders, refusing to fight and your scores have been reflecting that.” She remained silent but Eric could see her body tense up.

Max began to circle around her as he talked. “Dauntless members are taught to take orders no matter what they are or how they feel about them. I think maybe you should see it for yourself what it’s like when a real Dauntless is given orders. Eric, if you wouldn’t mind.” He called him over. Anxious Eric pushed away from his position against the wall and stood beside Samantha.

“I want you to beat her until she fights back and wins or fights and still loses. If she refuses to fight at all then I want you to beat her until her death.” Max ordered him without feeling.

Eric went numb. How was this giving her a second chance? It sounded more like a punishment, possibly for them both. He was afraid that the chances were he would end up having to kill her, unless she miraculously wanted to live enough to beat him back. He couldn’t refuse the order though, to do that would be the death for both of them and as soon as he laid a hand on her she would never trust him again. He knew by the look of shock on her face right at that moment.

“Come on, Sunshine, play time’s over.” He said as cruelly as he could.

“But you can’t do that, its’ murder.” She said disbelieving.

“Dauntless can do whatever we choose to.” Max replied coolly.

Eric smacked her hard against the cheek and she stumbled back, momentarily stunned. Her cheek glowed red from the blow and she glared at him. There was no turning back now.

He hit her again with little force because he needed her to hit him back before he accidently knocked her out. She circled him, glancing at Max now and again, and he grabbed her when she looked away and held her tightly against his chest with both of her arms locked in his grip. She struggled against him.

“You need to hit me back. Factionless is better than dead.” He whispered in her ear before he spun her back around and kissed her hard on the mouth.

His stomach muscles tightened with the sensation and before he knew it Samantha kneed him in the groin and flipped him onto his back when he doubled over in pain. She kicked him hard in the ribs a few times and then in the head. Everything went black.

It must have been only a minute later when he came back around, everything was fuzzy and he had a massive head ache, because he could hear Max talking somewhere in the room while he slowly tried to crawl his way over to the bench and sit himself up.

“Congratulations, you just passed the first stage of initiation. Beating a Dauntless leader gives you enough points to make the cut.” Max said to someone else in the room; Eric couldn’t remember who.

“Why would I want to join a murderous group like the Dauntless? Every last one of you disgusts me. I would rather be factionless than become cold and cruel like the jackass behind me, I quit.” Samantha, that’s who it was, said.

Did she just quit? No, she couldn’t, Max just said she passed. He groaned in protest when she ran out the door. Max helped him up and took him to the infirmary. 

A serum for his head injury and a couple of ointments for his ribs later, Eric felt well enough to get back to his initiates. It was too bad the Amity had the serum for peace because he sure could use some to get rid of the feeling of guilt he had at the moment. She had passed and yet she still chose to quit. She hated him, so much that she actually left. And it burned.

“You can go now Lauren, thanks for covering for me.” He told her when he entered the room.

She nodded and went over to join Zeke with the Dauntless-born. He could see Silas looking around for Samantha, wondering why she hadn’t come back with him.

“Initiates, come over here!” He called out and they gathered around him quietly. “Sunshine has decided to quit, she will no longer be with us as of now and there is no point for any of you to go running after her to change her mind. Once the decision has been made there’s no taking it back.”

“What did you do to her?” Silas asked angrily.

Eric glared back. “I didn’t do anything to her. She chose to leave on her own.”

“Yeah, but she wouldn’t have done something like that unless something bad happened and she was with you and Max before she left, so that means you did something.” Silas returned accusingly.

“Maybe you should take your puppy love to someone who cares.” Eric replied, pretending to sound bored.

“Oh, don’t pretend like you didn’t have a thing for her too!”

“I don’t know what you are referring to.” He answered, holding in his anger.

“Come on! You constantly called her by a cute nickname, you were always looking at her when she didn’t notice and you even hit on her at The Pit Stain!” Silas pointed out with a raised voice.

“I’m ordering you to calm down initiate.” Eric said with false calm.

“You were her instructor. You were supposed to teach her what to do to make it.”

He grabbed Silas by the collar. “I tried to help her as much as I could.”

“And you failed her.”

Eric’s eyes went dead cold before he punched Silas in the face.


	16. Chapter 16

Samantha ran back to the dormitory and stuffed a bag with all the clothing she had. If she was going to be factionless then she needed anything and everything she could get her hands on. She knew that Berkley, who had a thing for knife throwing, had just bought himself a new one and stuffed it underneath his mattress. She snatched it on her way out. She may need it and prayed he would forgive her.

No one paid her any attention or followed her out of the compound and so she threw her bag onto the passing train and jumped on. She stayed on until it reached the fence and jumped off. The gate to the Amity farms was nearby and even if she could get through, she knew Amity would never let her go back because those were the rules.

But she could survive beyond the farms, she thought. She knew how to grow food and how to take care of wounds, all she would have to do is steal a few things now and again like seeds, meds and tools. Living free out there would be better than under surveillance in the city, starving and dirty, with the factionless.

Thankfully, she never got rid of the clothes she arrived at Dauntless in. She had stuffed them at the bottom of her trunk for sentimental reasons and now they came in handy. She pulled out her old Amity clothes from her bag and put them on and waited.

An hour later a group of Amity came back from a delivery, some choosing to walk instead of riding in the back of the truck once they got close enough, and Samantha slipped in amongst them and marched through the gate unnoticed. No one in the group seemed to recognize her either and so when most of them went to the cafeteria for dinner Samantha headed to the orchard and filled her empty tummy with apples then gathered a few more for later.

She made her way through the fields and greenhouses and took more supplies that she knew she would need. No one bothered her because the farmers usually went straight to bed after dinner so they could get up with the sun the next morning and the artists and doctors of Amity didn’t come out to the farms much.

She found packets of seeds for carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce and more. She also picked up a spade, gloves and a watering can. Once she was sure she had everything she needed and could carry, Samantha changed back into her black Dauntless clothes and snuck out into the dark.

She walked past the outer limits where the Dauntless guarded and farther until she was sure they would not be able to see her in the morning when she would find a place to live out of sight. But until then she wrapped her blanket around herself and fell asleep on the ground.

 

* * *

 

_Eric stood impossibly close to her. His muscled arms held her close to his beating chest and she could feel his warm breath fanning her ear as he whispered something to her. Despite not knowing what he was saying she let his husky voice relax her into his embrace. He leaned in closer until his soft lips connected with hers._

Samantha woke up from her dream with a start and cursed herself. It had been a month and a half since she left Dauntless and moved to the middle of nowhere and she still couldn’t get her last meeting with Eric out of her mind.

During the day she cursed him but at night she longed for him. The conflicting feelings where driving her crazy. She thanked her lucky stars that she would never have to see him again.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to thank everyone for reading, posting kudos and the comments! I love getting them all!

Six weeks passed since Samantha left the Dauntless compound and Eric was miserable. His mood turned for the worst and his initiates suffered for it, especially Silas who had decided to make it his mission to challenge Eric at every turn.

Grant and Mark had been cut after the first stage and now it would be all over in a day’s time. His annoying initiates would become full members to enjoy their lives while he continued his search for her.

As soon as she disappeared he had asked his friends who monitored the factionless to watch out for her and there still hadn’t been any sign of her. He could only think of two more options, she went back to Amity and they accepted her back against the rules or she was with the Divergent.

Eric knocked on Max’s office door. After the meeting with Samantha, Max never brought up what occurred there and neither did he, it already added to his nightmares and so he didn’t feel like reliving it during his waking hours too.

“Come in.” Max’s muffled voice said through the door.

Eric entered the small room that was neatly organized and sat down in one of the chairs opposite the desk.

“What do I owe the pleasure this time?”

The muscle in Eric’s jaw jumped. “Training ends tomorrow and I was hoping to request a few days off afterward.”

“Yes, I hear you made fear training especially gruelling this year.” Max said shuffling paper around. “Take a few days and be back for our meeting with Jeanine on Monday.” He added, stapling the papers together.

“Thank you, sir.” Eric replied and left the office before he could change his mind.  
***  
With training finally behind him Eric hopped onto the train and rode it to the end of the line where the Amity farms were just outside the gate.

“Hey, Clive.” He said to the guard at the gate who nodded his head in return. “I’m just going to visit the Amity compound, mind letting me out?”

“No problem sir. Enjoy your visit.” Clive replied as he unlocked the gate to let him through.

As he neared the compound, he watched the people moving around the place with smiles on their faces and kids running around happily. Somewhere in the fields people were singing as they worked and he imagined Samantha out there with them in a red bohemian dress with the sun glinting in her golden hair.

He found Johanna by the tree in the main building and she addressed him with concern in her eyes. “Good day. How may I help the Dauntless today?”

“Name’s Eric and I’m not here on behalf of Dauntless, more of a personal reason.” He said.

Her face expressed curiosity now. “What can I do for you then Eric?”

“I’m looking for a girl named Samantha Williams, she was a Dauntless initiate from Amity but chose to quit. I was hoping she came back here - she’s not in any trouble - I just wanted to talk to her.” He explained hoping she would reveal Samantha’s whereabouts on the compound.

“I’m sorry, but we don’t allow former Amity dependants back if they choose another faction. Rules state that we cannot and Amity certainly would not go against that. Have you looked among the factionless?” Johanna asked saddened at the news.

“Yes with no success.”

“Perhaps you just missed her. The factionless can be wide spread.” She suggested.

“Maybe… I’ll try there again, thanks for your time.” He said.

After they said farewell, he pretended to head towards the gate and decided to go past the fields and beyond the limit instead. At the outer limits a guard he didn’t know stopped him.

“No one is allowed past this point, sir.”

“Do you know who I am?” He asked annoyed.

“Yes sir.” The man replied nervously.

“Then you know I am one of your leaders and I don’t need your permission to pass if I want to. Max requires me to look at something out there for him. Its’ top secret so keep your trap shut about it.” He lied with a cold stare.

“Okay.”

Glad he bought his story, Eric continued walking. If she was out there he knew she could be anywhere outside the gate, but she had to come this way since there was only the one way out and staying close to Amity would help her get food and supplies if she was planning on staying out there.

An hour later he finally spotted a rundown house far from the city’s watchful eye. Its roof was almost collapsing, the paint long worn off so it looked weathered and grey and some of the windows were broken, but despite those things he could see signs of livability. The windows were clean, the yard was devoid of weeds and there were clothes hanging up in the yard.

He grinned to himself, he finally found her. Anxious, he picked up his pace and was ready to knock on the door when he hesitated. What the heck was he going to say to her? ‘I’m sorry for almost killing you.’? He was distracted with his thoughts so he didn’t notice the knife until it slid against his throat from behind and he stilled.

“Here to finish what you last started?” Samantha asked angrily.

“I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Then what do you want?” She dug the knife a bit deeper but not enough to draw blood yet.

“I wanted to apologize.”

Samantha laughed. “You? Want to apologize? To me?”

“Yes. Is it so hard to believe that I may have a conscience too?” Eric frowned when she laughed again.

“What am I supposed to do with you now? I can’t just let you go back to Dauntless. You’ll tell them I’m out here, probably come back and kill me just for breaking the rules. Maybe I should just slit your throat now and be done with it.” She said coldly.

“Or you can come back with me. I’m sure I can convince Max to…”

She cut him off, “What makes you think I would want to go back? I left for a reason and what I found out while I was out here just confirmed my beliefs.”

“What are you talking about? There’s nothing out here to find out.” He said confused and the blade loosened slightly.

“Are you telling me that you actually don’t know?” He looked at her with confusion and curiosity written all over his face; she slowly put the knife away.

“Does anyone else know you are out here?” She asked him.

“Just the guards at the outer limits know I went over.” He said eyeing her up.

Samantha sighed heavily. “Great, we won’t have much time before they miss you.”

“Time for what?” He asked, eager to find out what she was talking about.

“I want to show you something but it will take a while.” She explained.

“Dauntless isn’t expecting me back until Monday, so you’ve got two more days to show me.”

“It won’t take that long.” Samantha replied with a slight shake of her head.

She walked around to the back of the house and grabbed two water bottles, filled them and handed one to Eric. “It’s hot out today and it’s a long walk; I suggest you put something lighter on.”

Eric noticed that she was wearing her yellow Amity outfit from the first day he met her. His black vest and pants were a thicker material but he knew he wouldn’t be able to fit her smaller clothes.

“I’ll be fine with water.”

“Suit yourself.” She muttered and began walking farther away from the city.


	18. Chapter 18

A couple of hours later Samantha stopped and pointed to a group of buildings not too far away. “Do you see those?” She asked him.

Eric shrugged. “Yeah, it’s just an abandoned town. They’re all over the country after the war killed everyone else off.”

“It’s not abandoned. The leaders of the factions have lied to us, the country isn’t in ruin.”

“What are you saying?” He asked, his eyes narrowed at her.

“Every city and town remains the same as it was before the ‘war’ with people living their lives free from restrictions on who they are and what they can do. You can be Dauntless and Amity at the same time here.” She explained and continued walking closer to the town.

Eric jogged to catch up to her. “They don’t have factions? How do they keep people under control?”

“As far as I’ve read they have police who take care of crime, but it sounds like it’s more after the fact rather than prevention. But prison does sound like it would make people avoid it if they can. Come on, I’ll bring you to someone who can explain it more.”

Eventually they entered the small town and Eric looked around with a steely expression, like he didn’t trust what he was seeing. They followed the main road and passed small shops on either side as cars drove by that weren’t rusted or nearly breaking down like the Amity vehicles. They both marveled at the amount of them because so far they had already seen ten; that was probably more than they had in the whole city of Chicago.

Then Eric suddenly ran across the street to the grocery store and stared at the display of fruits that lined the tables on the sidewalk. Samantha quickly joined him.

“Where did they get all this fresh fruit and why is it just sitting here?” He asked her.

Samantha tried to stop herself from smiling at his childlike wonder, because she too still could hardly believe it and well, she didn’t like him either.

“This is a grocery store where people come and buy their food. Everyone and anyone can come and pick out what they want and they pay for it with money.”

“What’s money?”

“It’s like the point system at Dauntless except they carry it around with them in the form of paper or coins. Jobs here can be many different things and if you have the skills for those jobs anyone can do them, here you could be a Doctor if you chose too. Some jobs pay more than others, depends on the level of difficulty, so some people have more luxury items than others here too.” She explained.

“Can I help you find anything?” A middle aged man came out of the shop and asked them.

Eric looked around but his eye kept going back to the round oranges, so Samantha grabbed one and handed the shop keeper money.

“We’ll just take this one, thanks.” She said and turned to go, tossing the orange to Eric.

“Where did you get money?” Eric asked examining the fruit after he deftly caught it.

“Once I learned that was how to get the things I needed I started selling stuff here in town, mostly jewelry that I make from beads and string that I buy from the craft store here. I don’t get much for them but it’s enough to buy food I can’t grow myself. That way I don’t have to go back to the city and steal stuff.”

Eric nodded absentmindedly, focusing on the orange. She grabbed it back from him and began to peel it. “This is an orange. You have to peel the skin off to eat the fruit that is inside. We don’t have them in the city because it’s not warm enough to grow them.” She handed him a section of orange and watched him pop it in his mouth and chew thoughtfully.

The library wasn’t far from the grocery store. It sat on the corner of a quiet street across from the patch of green space the town called the Town Square. Most people were at work at this time in the morning so the library was almost empty. They walked in and went to the front desk.

“Samantha, it’s nice to see you today!” The librarian greeted, her brown eyes warmed with delight and Samantha smiled back pleasantly. “Still working on your project about Chicago?” She asked Samantha.

“Yes, I brought my boyfriend this time to help me out. Would you be able to tell him the story of how Chicago started? I’m not sure I have all the facts straight yet.”

“I would love to, follow me.” She said and took them to a table at the back of the room where they held the history books and newspaper slides.

“Boyfriend?” Eric whispered with a smirk as they followed.

“Shut up, it was a split second decision that required the least back story compared to why my older cousin or friend would be helping me on a high school project.” She harshly whispered back, ignoring the smug look on his face.

They came to a solid wood table and sat down as the librarian, Tanis, took books off the shelves and handed them over to Samantha. Once she was done she sat down across from them and began her tale.

“So, over a hundred years ago Chicago used to be a large city within the United States. But like most large cities, the crime rate was very high and so this group called the Factions started. At first they protested and rallied, but as time went on they became more of a rebellion and they demanded that the government change the way they ran things to curb crime. The government refused of course, so they started a civil war within the city and they took over.” She pointed to a picture of the city in the midst of war.

“Eventually the President said they could keep the city and run it the way they thought was best as an experiment to see if it really worked; on the promise that the Factions would come forth with their findings after a century, they would be left completely alone until then. Airplane routes, roads and train routes were all diverted around the city and they fenced off the majority of it to keep the residents in to prevent them from finding out about the rest of the world. Everyone who lived within a certain radius of the city and decided not to join in the experiment was forced to abandon their homes and move away.”

Samantha watched Eric’s face harden with each sentence.

“What happened inside once they had the place to themselves?” He asked Tanis.

“Well, it’s hard to say for sure because no one has seen or heard from the inside for a long time but the system the Factions had proposed before being cut off from the rest of the world was to divide society into five different factions that represented a different trait that would have a specific purpose to help society and every person had to choose only one to live by. So I suppose that is what happened to them.” She finished.

“Thank you so much Tanis for all your help. We probably won’t take too much longer here today, just wanted to brush up on some of the info.” She said sweetly to the other lady.

“It’s my pleasure. I’ll be at the desk if you need anything else.” Tanis said and left them alone.

As soon as she was gone, Eric said with urgency, “We need to get back.” He stood up quickly and started for the exit.

“Wait! Why are you running off?”

“I need to find out if what I just heard was true. Jeanine said Abnegation was hiding a secret that would ruin us as a society; I want to know what that secret is and she knows it.” He replied, barely glancing back at her.

Samantha followed him out of the library. “You can’t just go and tell Jeanine that you know any of this, she’ll probably kill you. We need to tell the Divergent.”

Eric turned on her. “What makes you think the Divergent will listen to us? I killed their friends and family, they would gladly kill me too if I went to them.”

“Maybe they won’t if they understand that you were under the simulation serum that Jeanine put everyone under.” She could see him clench his jaw before he said,

“Fine, we’ll find Four and Tris but we better do it quick before Dauntless realize I’ve left the city, because then Jeanine won’t tell me shit.”

“But we just walked for two hours to get here and I’m starving. We need to get food and water before we walk another two to get back.” She complained.

“We will grab stuff at the grocery store on our way out.” He said with determination.


	19. Chapter 19

Compared to the morning heat, the way back was twice as hot and their food and water didn’t last long. As Eric walked ahead of her in silence she could see him wipe the sweat off his brow every once in a while, and he staggered when they were nearly back at her home.

“Are you ok?” She asked him before he bent over and vomited into a bush.

When he was finished, she helped him to stand and steadied him with an arm around the middle of his back before he could fall over and touched his forehead to find it burning up.

“Looks like heat exhaustion. Can you still walk? I won’t be able to drag you all the way back by myself.” Eric nodded and leaned against her.

Together they hobbled for the last fifteen minutes toward the house. Once they got there she rushed him inside and laid him on her make shift bed and grabbed him water.

“Take it easy, we don’t want you to get sick again.” Samantha said as she held the cup up to his mouth. “We’ll need to take your vest off too to help cool you down.” She added a she assessed the situation.

He was clearly dizzy because he quickly slumped against her when the glass was empty and promptly fell asleep. With a groan, she lowered him back down so he wouldn’t bang his head on the floor and began to undo his vest. Grumbling to herself, she tried to pull the heavy fabric from underneath him but it wouldn’t budge beneath his weight and she decided to leave it there. Kneeling beside him, she glared at his still form. He didn’t listen to her when she told him his clothing would be too hot for the weather and now she was stuck caring for him.

Samantha knew she couldn’t leave him in that condition though, and touched his forehead one more time to find that it was still hot. She gathered a bowl of cool water and a clean cloth to wipe him down with and starting with his neck, she worked her way down to his muscled shoulders and chest. She had never seen someone as muscular as him before, as men in Amity were strong but more lean than solid.

She moved onto his face and wiped the dust off it. His features looked peaceful as he slept and she could almost imagine what he would be like in Amity. Lingering around his mouth, she warily touched his lips with her fingertips. They were full and smooth against her skin and she could recall how they felt against her own lips when he forced them on her. He was beautiful and the urge to kiss him again was agonizing but she refused to give in. She wasn’t sure yet if she could trust him, so getting attached wasn’t a good idea.

An hour later Samantha was cooking on a hot plate she picked up from town when he woke up. “How are you feeling?” She asked.

Eric grunted and laid his arm over his eyes. “I have a huge head ache.”

“You’re still dehydrated. Here eat this and you should feel better.” She said coming around the counter and passed him a bowl of vegetable soup.

He leaned against the wall, shirtless, and stirred the soup around before taking a sip; he made a face. “This is disgusting.”

“Too bad, your body needs it right now and it’s good for you.” She firmly replied.

He took a few more bites before asking, “I noticed you got my shirt off, did you enjoy the view while I was out?”

“You mean the view of you drooling in your sleep? No not really.” She blushed and hid it by turning away to do the dishes. “Has anyone told you that you’re cocky?” She asked with attitude.

“All the time. Isn’t that what you like about me?” He replied with a smirk.

“I admire your confidence but not your arrogance. You know, that part of you that listened to Max when he told you to kill me so you wouldn’t look bad.”

“I wasn’t going to kill you, but I had to try to convince you otherwise so I wouldn’t have to get us both killed. Max won’t tolerate any acts of defiance. Besides I believe I heard a compliment amidst the insult.”

Samantha snorted. “You would.”

Ignoring that, Eric drank the last of his meal and said, “Where do you think the Divergent are hiding?”

“They must still be in the city. I’ve looked all over outside the gate and I can’t find them.” Samantha said.

“Ok, so we go back in and we infiltrate the factionless, they must be with them somewhere.” He said as he tried to get up but he soon fell back over and rested on the bed.

“Maybe we should wait until the morning. You obviously still need to rest.” Samantha suggested, sitting down against the opposite wall. “You stay on your side of the room and I’ll stay on mine, deal?”

“Fine by me, I’m way too tired to rape you tonight if that’s what you’re worried about.” He replied scornfully and turned over to stare at the wall.

If she knew him better she would say he sounded hurt, but he was Eric and she didn’t know what he was capable of.


	20. Chapter 20

The sunlight crept through the curtains and shown into Eric’s eyes waking him up. Groggily he rubbed his eyes and found himself lying on the floor of a darkened room in only his pants and a blanket. The deep breathing across from him reminded him that he was with Samantha in her abandoned home outside the gate and the unnerving information he had learned the day before.

Not wanting to wake her, he quietly got up and found his missing vest beneath him. His stomach rumbled as he put it back on and he realized that all he had eaten yesterday was the soup she had made him eat and the fruit from the store.

The kitchen and living room were open concept, so without making too much noise, he rummaged through the cabinets. He managed to find a box of pancake mix that only required added water and the contraption she had used the day before for the soup sat on the counter in front of him. It was powered by a small canister of propane and it only took him a few minutes to figure out how to turn it on. Once it was running, he set the frying pan on to heat up and he mixed up the pancake mix.

While they cooked he found a bottle of syrup and he thanked God when he found a bag of beef jerky too. He ripped the bag open and shoved a couple of pieces into his mouth. He was standing with his eyes closed, savoring in the taste, when a voice startled him.

“Are you making breakfast?” Samantha asked from her spot on the floor, her hair messed from sleep.

“Pancakes… I hope. I’ve never had to cook before but the instructions sounded easy enough.” He said with jerky in his mouth.

She raised an eyebrow. “You’ve never cooked before?”

“Never had to. Dauntless members live in kitchen-less apartments within the compound and we eat every meal in the dining hall, before that it was the same with Erudite. I assumed all the factions where similar in that aspect.” He replied, flipping the pancakes over.

“Oh. In Amity we share the common responsibilities like cooking and cleaning in fair rotation. I had a friend from Abnegation back in school and she told me that she cooked at home. It must be because they live in separate homes rather than all together in one building.” She said thoughtfully.

“Makes sense, Abnegation wouldn’t want others to serve them when they can serve themselves.” Eric replied handing her a plate of slightly burnt pancakes and a glass of water.

They sat down on the floor against opposite walls like they had slept and ate.

“Erudite-born, huh? I would have guessed Dauntless-born.” Samantha said between bites.

Eric smirked. “Guess there’s more to me than you thought.”

“Apparently.” She mumbled as she took another bite.

They left for the city soon after eating and when they got close to the guards at the outer limits, Eric took her arm gently and pretended to drag her forcefully over to them.

“Sir?” The same guard from yesterday addressed him.

“I found this initiate hiding out in the wilderness. How bad are you at your job that you let this girl get past you?!” He shouted in the guard’s face.

If it was a normal day he would have this guard demoted to one of the crappier jobs in Dauntless, because it was true he did let her through when he shouldn’t have, but luckily for him it wasn’t a normal day.

“I’ll let it slide this once, but you best not mention it to anyone. Once Max hears of it, I won’t be able to let it go again.” He warned. The guard frantically nodded and let them go by.

Samantha yanked her arm out of his grasp when they were far enough from the guard to not see them. “What the heck? Now they’re going to find my house!”

“It’s not like you’re going to go back anyway. The divergent will let you stay with them and you’ll be safe.”

“Safe from what?! The Divergent and the Erudite are in the middle of a war. I only wanted to inform them of what we found out and go back home to live my life away from the violence and now I can’t do that!” She exclaimed.

Eric cursed himself. He was so worried about leaving her alone out there that it never occurred to him that it would be more dangerous for her in the city.

“If they can’t keep you safe, then I will. Think of me as your personal bodyguard from now on.” He said.

She rolled her eyes at him. “I don’t want you around that much, no offense.”

He leaned in close to her face. “Too bad, now can we please go and get this over with?” He asked her.

Her blue eyes glared back at him. “Fine.”

They passed through the gate without explanation and took the train to the factionless quarter.


	21. Chapter 21

The buildings here were more prominently deteriorating, the roads had huge holes and garbage littered the gutters and sidewalks. They walked for a while before they found a man sitting in the shade of a doorway to get away from the heat.

Samantha gestured for Eric to stop and she approached the man quietly. “Hi, my name’s Sam and this is…”

“I know who he is. What do you Dauntless dogs want?” He interrupted her, eyeing them up warily.

“We have information for the Divergent that is really important and we’re trying to find them.” She explained.

“What makes you think they’re around here?”

“We’ve been outside the gate and we know they’re not out there, but something else is that they should know about. Please just tell us where we can find them.” She said, her tone pleading with him.

He scrutinized them for a second before answering, “They’re staying at the old Kendall College dorms on East Van Buren Street. They won’t take kindly to you lot though.”

“We’ll worry about that.” Eric told him over his shoulder as they jogged back to the main street.

The college dorm, a twenty seven story building with many windows that glinted in the sunlight, was in the factionless sector of the city so all the buildings around it were completely abandoned which made it a good hideout from the eye of the Erudite and could hold a lot of people. As they approached it, off to the side at the building before the dorms, three guards shouted at them.

“Stop where you are Eric!”

They stopped walking and raised their hands into the air slightly.

“My, aren’t you a popular guy.” Samantha joked with sarcasm.

“A lot of Dauntless initiates don't make the cut and become factionless as well as our older members who cannot keep up, so yeah a lot of them will know me and want to kill me for it. Probably best if you stayed quiet until we see Four.” Eric explained.

Realizing how much danger he was in by coming here, she clamped her mouth shut as the guards tied their hands together and marched them into the building. One of them ran off to inform Four and Tris that they were there and the others sat them in the corner of the lobby with their guns pointed at them.

Not long after, a couple came down the stairs whom Samantha presumed was Four and Tris. To her it looked like Tris was holding back from attacking Eric outright from the way she stared daggers at him and Four merely looked at Samantha with curiosity.

“How did you find us?” Four asked.

“We asked around. It wasn’t too hard, when you ask properly.” Eric replied with a shrug.

“Who did you hurt this time?” Four growled.

“No one! We just told him that we had information about what is outside the gate and he told us where to find you.” Samantha interjected quickly before Eric could piss them off.

Their gaze rested on her. “Go on.” Four urged.

“They’re lying, Jeanine, all of them. Everything they told us is a lie.” She said, continuing to tell them about her experience with the town and everything the librarian had told them about history.

Four and Tris gave each other a look and conversed quietly a few feet away when she was done. Four gave the guard a curt nod and they went back upstairs as the guards hauled Samantha and Eric up to their feet and shoved them through the building to a room in the basement with no windows and locked them in. The dusty lamp overhead glowed dimly and they could see that it was a small empty room with yellowing walls that were once white.

“That went better than I thought it would.” Eric said as he slid down the wall to sit against it.

“From the look Tris gave you I’m surprised she didn’t shoot you on the spot.” Samantha agreed and sat down as well.

“She might still if we can’t convince them we’re telling the truth.” He rubbed his face with his hands. He suddenly looked tired and she scooted closer so he could rest his head against her shoulder.

She sat there with him lightly snoring against her for a couple of hours before they finally came back for them. She nudged him awake and they took the stairs to another room a few floors up. It must have been the Divergent’s office because it had maps pinned up on the walls and papers cluttered around the desk. They shoved them into two chairs that sat in the middle of the room so they faced Four, Tris and another woman dressed as the Dauntless.

“Christina. Glad to find out that you’ve been a spy this whole time.” Eric shook his head and chuckled.

Samantha didn’t know her personally but she did see her around the compound once in a while. Christina ignored him and handed the serum she held to Four.

“Christina has also been our supplier of truth serum for occasions such as this so we can to see if you’re telling the truth or not. You’re first Eric.” He said as he injected Eric in the neck. They gave him a few minutes for the serum to take effect before they began their inquiry.

“Are you a spy?” Four asked. Tris stood back quietly with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Yes and no. I’m a spy for Erudite into the Dauntless, but I’m not here as a spy for either faction.”

“Then why are you here?”

“We came to tell you what we found outside the gate. I originally wanted to go back to Dauntless and ask Jeanine if it was true, but Sunshine convinced me to come to you first.” He answered.

“Why are you working for Jeanine Matthews?” Four asked.

“She told me that Abnegation was in the process of destroying our society by releasing important information but she never mentioned what that information was. She convinced me that a couple hundred Abnegation lives lost would be better than hundreds more in a war.” Eric spilled.

“And why did you trust her?! Why did she choose you?” Tris asked angrily.

“She’s my aunt, I’ve never had a reason to not believe her. When she found out I received Dauntless on my aptitude test she asked me to become her informant against the Divergent. She said they were the most dangerous to our plan because they would want the information released and she wouldn’t be able control them with her serum.”

“So that made it okay to kill innocent people?” Tris growled.

“He was under the simulation too, they all were.” Samantha said.

“Is that what the Dauntless told everyone?” Tris laughed with disbelief. She violently pointed at Eric and said, “They lied to you. All the Dauntless leaders were in on it and were not under any simulation. I know because we were there and he tried to kill us when he found out we were Divergent.”

“What?” Samantha looked at Eric confused. “You’re a murderer?”

His eyes pleaded with her. “I did only what I thought was best. I wish I had known what I do now, because then I would have done everything differently.”

Samantha couldn’t believe it. She sat back in her chair stunned as they continued with their investigation.

“What is their plan now?” Four asked Eric.

“Jeanine is using a special serum to control a select group of the best Dauntless like a special ops team and plans to send them outside the gate to find the Divergent. We’ve all assumed you left the city that is why we haven’t been searching for you inside the gate.” He replied, defeated.

The three of them let the information sink in. “Normally when people undergo this serum they have difficulty answering, grunting and sweating and such. Why aren’t you having trouble?” Christina asked him suspiciously.

“I’m not fighting the truth.” Eric replied.

Four rubbed his chin and gazed between Eric and Samantha. “Why did you leave the city?” He asked.

“I wanted to find Sunshine.”

“How did she come to be outside the gate?” Four pressed.

“She quite Dauntless training and snuck out the gate.”

“Why would you care if someone chose to be factionless?” Four asked confused.

Eric paused for a long time and refused to look at them. Eventually the serum must have won out because he blurted out, “Because I like her.”

Four surprised faces looked at him. “You have feelings for someone other than yourself? That’s a new one. You’ve never shown interest in anyone outside of the bed before.” Four said.

“Neither did you until Tris came along.” Eric said irate.

Samantha couldn’t believe it either. She wasn’t sure how she felt about him now with the new information that he was involved voluntarily. She was appalled by what he did and yet she felt sorry for him at the same time. Why couldn’t he have just left her alone outside the gate? Then she wouldn’t have this moral dilemma.


	22. Chapter 22

Eric could feel the pressure of the serum fading away and he was pissed. They had the truth and Four still had to take it a step further and make him confess his feelings in front of her.

He had made peace with the fact that she would never want him because of the things he did but he certainly didn’t want her to know how he felt. He promised to protect her and now it was going to be more uncomfortable than before to be around her. He watched as they injected her next with the truth serum.

“Are you Divergent?”

“No.” She replied smoothly.

“Why did you leave Dauntless?” Four kindly asked.

“I realized that the Dauntless weren’t the kind of people that I wanted to become.” She answered.

“And you chose to leave the gates, why?” Tris asked this time.

“I was born in Amity and I felt like I could survive out there better than inside with the factionless. I would have been fine if Eric didn’t come barging in and ruin it for me though.” She replied with annoyance.

“How long did you live out there before he found you?” Tris wondered out loud.

“Six weeks.”

“And during that time you found a town with people?”

“Yes.”

“How far away is this place from the city?” Tris asked curiously.

“About a three hour walk away. My home is an hour from the gate and the town another two from there heading west.”

“Have you told anyone else other than Eric about this place?” Four asked her.

“No.” She shook her head.

“Alright, give us a few days to find this town for ourselves and if everything checks out you may stay among us if you wish to.”

“What about Eric?” She asked.

The three of them looked at him like they were unsure. “The Abnegation members we have here will want justice for his crimes against them.” Four said.

Eric wasn’t sure what type of punishment the Abnegation had for murder but he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to be anything good.

“For now the two of you can stay in one of the last rooms we have available under guard until we can determine the nature of these facts for ourselves.” Four continued and they were shown out by the guards that brought them in.

The room they were given was on the 5th floor and was one of the original three bedroom dorm rooms with a common area. The other two were apparently occupied by other couples and so they had to share the one room that was left. Thankfully it had two separate twin beds, a desk and a dresser. They were informed that the bathroom was down the hall and also co-ed.

Eric sat down heavily onto the frameless mattress and it squeeked. Despite the age and overdue use of the building, the Divergent had managed to clean the building of dirt and grime and brought in somewhat old but usable furniture to replace the rotten ones that were left abandoned with the building for the last century. Only the first eight floors were finished in the year they had been there and all the rooms were occupied with the Divergent, Abnegation and whatever factionless that decided to join them in the fight.

He watched as Samantha opened the window to let in fresh air and then sat down on her own bed across from him. She stared at her lap uncomfortably before sighing and looking him in the eye.

“Look, we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while by the sound of it so how about we just forget everything we heard earlier and pretend like its business as usual?” She said bravely.

“You’re not worried that I might rape or kill you in your sleep?” He responded with sarcasm.

“No. I get the feeling that if you wanted to do those things to me then you would have done so by now. I believe you regret your decision to follow those orders and are willing to make amends or am I wrong?”

Eric stared at her softly. Here she was offering him forgiveness again just like at lunch at Dauntless but this time he would take it even if he didn’t deserve it. She had the bravery that truly mattered, the kind that stood up for what you believed in not the kind that made you jump from tall buildings and he envied her.

He offered her his hand. “A new beginning, then.” She smiled faintly and slipped her small hand into his large one and shook it. “Can we kiss on it too?” He half joked.

She rolled her eyes and gently threw his hand back at him. “You’re pushing it now.”

“A dead man’s gotta try.” He said as he lay back against the pillow with his arms folded behind his head.

“You’re not going to die.” She replied, watching him.

“If I’m correct, the worst possible crime is murder and usually the most severe punishment is death so I’d say my chances of dying in the next couple of days are pretty high.”

“Then maybe you should show them that you can still be useful to them alive. Tell them about the meeting with Jeanine tomorrow and maybe you can spy for the Divergent like Christina does.”

Eric shook his head. “I can’t do that. If I spy for them then I would have to stay at Dauntless and you would be here alone. I know you said that you would forget everything you heard today but I’m sure you still remember when I confessed to liking you.” He glanced at her. “I also promised to protect you to make up for the danger I already put you through. How can I do that in another faction?” He continued.

Samantha sat back silently and he wished he knew what she was thinking about. Was she relieved at the thought of his future death? Or disappointed that he didn’t want to leave?


	23. Chapter 23

They weren’t allowed to leave their room, other than use of the bathroom, and with nothing better to do they decided to spend the rest of that afternoon by playing ‘I Spy’ to pass the time.

“I spy something that is blue.” Samantha said bored.

Eric named off everything he could see that was blue only to receive a shake of her head each time. Finally he said, “Your eyes?”

“That’s it.”

“That doesn’t count. You can’t actually see your own eyes.” He complained with a smile.

“I can if I see myself in the mirror.” She said pointing to a small one hung up on the wall.

Eric rolled his eyes and laughed. “Fine if you’re going to play dirty, I spy something that is brown.”

“Dirt.” She replied immediately.

“Screw you.” He said playfully.

“That was way too easy. I thought you were Erudite smart.” She teased.

“Why do you think I joined Dauntless?” 

“Because you liked to beat the shit out of people?” She replied unsure.

“That too.” He grinned, but their friendly banter was interrupted by a knock at the door. They both swiveled their heads to watch as Four came in carrying two trays of food and set them down on the desk.

“I came by to see how you were doing and brought you some dinner from the cafeteria.” He told them.

“You mean you wanted to make sure we haven’t broken out.” Eric said.

“Yes, that would be a good reason for a visit too and since you haven’t, I’ll leave you two alone. Oh by the way, power gets shut off at dusk so we don’t end up discovered from the lights. I suggest calling it an early night, unless you want to do everything by flashlight.” He said and turned for the door.

“Four,” Samantha called to him before he left, “can I have a word in private before you go?”

“Sure.”

He gestured for her to join him outside the room and once the door was closed, Samantha cleared her throat nervously.

“I understand that there’s a good chance Eric won’t be sticking around because of what he did, but… wouldn’t it be better if we kept Eric around as a spy? He has access to the Dauntless leadership and Jeanine. In fact he has a meeting with all of them tomorrow, he could find out what’s happening on their end much easier than Christina can.”

“That would be a great idea if we actually knew we could trust him, Sunshine.” Four responded.

“No, it’s Sam. Only Eric calls me Sunshine, it’s a long story.” She waved him off when he gave her a confused look. “We can’t just let Abnegation kill him though, isn’t there something else we can do?”

“Abnegation won’t kill him.” Four said with a shake of his head. “At worst they will pawn his sentence off on us in hopes that we choose to execute him or they will have him exiled. But to exile him now won’t mean much when we already have the factionless with us and we know outside the gate isn’t a death sentence anymore. So maybe they will arrest him indefinitely.” He explained with sympathy.

Samantha bit her lip. “What will you choose to do if they give him over to you?”

“We don’t know yet. Can I ask why you’re trying to save his life?”

She thought about it before answering, “I trust him I guess or maybe it’s my Amity upbringing, forgiveness and all. I don’t know, maybe it’s both.” She shrugged.

Four chuckled. “You sound confused.”

“I am. He made life hell during initiation, but now I realize he tried his hardest to help me pass; I just didn’t agree with his methods, and since he tried to help me survive, now I’m trying to help him.” She finished with imploring eyes.

Four studied her for a minute and said, “Ok, I’ll see what I can do. But in the meantime, keep a low profile until we can clear you to enter general population.”

“Okay. Thank you Four.” She said wholeheartedly and went back into the room.

Eric still sat on his bed but now he also had a tray of food on his lap. He looked up at her return with inquiring eyes and watched as she sat down with her own meal. “What was that about?” He asked.

“I was giving him directions to the library in town so they could find Tanis easier.” She lied and stuffed her mouth with mashed potatoes. His gaze stayed on her like he wasn’t sure if he believed her, but he eventually went back to eating.

The clock on the wall read 7:45 pm when the power suddenly shut off, leaving them in darkness except for the sinking sunlight that came in through their open window. Samantha crawled underneath her blanket and was trying to fall asleep when she heard Eric rustling around.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

“Getting undressed.” He replied, unconcerned.

“Is that really necessary?”

“Yes. There’s no way I can sleep in my clothes unless I’m on the run in the middle of nowhere and even then it probably won’t happen.” He replied.

“Please tell me you’re not naked.” She pleaded, really hoping he wasn’t.

“Don’t worry Princess, I’m still wearing my underwear.” He teased and sat down on his bed to pull off his socks.

Samantha had to fight the urge to peek at his chiseled physique as it was slowly being uncovered, but her brain was even harder to shut off as images flitted behind her tightly shut eyelids. It wasn’t until she finally heard him snoring across the room from her that she felt comfortable enough to fall asleep.


	24. Chapter 24

Around 7 am the sudden reappearance of the lights woke them and Eric groaned and pulled the covers up over his head to block out the light. The near twelve hours of sleep wasn’t enough to make up for the tossing and turning he had done all night.

He had kept dreaming that he stood in the background watching as mindless robots walked around the city with guns, shooting at people in grey clothing. Eventually it would fade into a courtroom full of the same grey people looking at him shackled to a chair. He always woke up after Four would walk into the room and shoot him in the head.

Samantha must have gotten up because the lights turned off and he heard her crawl back into her bed. “Might as well try and get some more sleep, it’s not like we’re expected to go anywhere today.” She sounded grumpy. Eric lowered the blanket and found her sitting against her headboard staring straight ahead with a frown on her face.

“What’s with you?” He asked her.

“Nothing.” She said and paused. “I had a dream that reminded me I’m a terrible friend. I never asked you how my friends did during training. Did they pass?”

“Most of them.” He said. “Mark and Grant were cut after the first stage and Ashlyn didn’t pass the final test. But Silas was top of the class and even your Dauntless-born friends, Kyle and his buddies, made it.”

“What did they say when they found out I left?” She inquired.

“Stunned into silence, except Silas, he just got really pissed at me. He knew I had something to do with it, although I wasn’t going to admit it. He gave me hell every chance he got after.”

“And you gave it right back to him, didn’t you?” It wasn’t a question, more like a statement of fact. “Why did you feel the need to be so cruel to us?” She continued when he remained silent.

“Why do you want to know?”

“I’m just trying to understand you better, because sometimes I see a guy who isn’t really like that and yet other times you are very convincing.” She replied softly.

After taking a few seconds to think it over he said, “It was my job to stamp out everything good about the initiates and turn them into obedient, merciless, fighting machines so that one day you would be able to take out the people you loved without question. For some it was easy and for others it proved difficult.” He said and looked at her. “Your will was too strong to break, and I didn’t really want to break it to begin with, but I didn’t want you to leave either, so I did my best to piss you off every chance I got in hopes of you snapping, Sunshine.”

“That too, why do you insist on calling me Sunshine? You’re not my Dauntless leader anymore, you can stop it. Besides, it’s not much of an insult now anyway. I’m proud of my Amity side.” She said annoyed.

“It was never meant as an insult. Calling you Sunshine was the only time I got to be nice to you without giving it away.” He said.

“You’re very good at making something nice sound mean then.” Samantha scowled.

Eric’s smile was bitter. “That’s why I got the job.”

Another knock sounded at their door before Four entered the room and turned on the lights. “Oh good, you’re awake.”

Eric disliked him a lot, ever since their initiation. Four was the ‘it’ guy, and jealous and desperate, Eric tried his hardest to beat him but it was never enough. Even rubbing it in his face that he became a leader wasn’t satisfying because Four just didn’t care. Four always made him feel insignificant and that’s what bothered him the most.

“Good news. A group of us located your town last night and broke into the library where we found the history books. Cara also hacked into their computer system and discovered this program called the internet. All your info lined up with what we found, so you’re free to go Sam.” He said to her and then turned to Eric, “you on the other hand still have to await trial, but you can move around the compound with guards if you wish. Breakfast will be ready in the cafeteria in an hour and if you want to shower it’s down the hall and there are towels provided by the bathroom door.” He said and left as quickly as he came, giving them no time to ask questions.

“Thank goodness. I’m going to have a shower before breakfast. See you in the cafeteria?” She asked him.

He could hear the relief in her voice at the thought of freedom and wished he could feel it as well. He nodded to her and watched her leave the room, but in the few minutes of her leaving he felt the solitude ten times more and wished she hadn’t left.

Deciding that he didn’t want to sit around for the next hour, he left for the showers as well, knowing he’d feel better after cleaning up. He found the bathroom with ease and grabbed a towel by the door where Four said they were and proceeded to the showers.

There were five stalls connected to each other with tiled partitions to separate them but they happened to be missing the curtains that provided privacy and he stopped in his tracks when he found Samantha rinsing her hair under the spray. He watched as the water ran down her lean body and his pants tightened considerably. She hadn’t noticed he was there because her eyes were closed to prevent soap from getting into them, but once she had successfully rinsed it all out, they opened to find him staring.

“What the fuck, Eric!” She screamed and reached for the towel that hung on a hook near the entrance of her stall. When she wrapped it around herself he tried to play it cool.

“Never got used to the Dauntless showers did you?” He smirked. “Did you think no one was going to come in just because you were here?”

“I had hoped not. I especially didn’t think you would walk in when I told you I was coming in here, pervert!” 

“What makes it worse that I see you rather than someone else?” He scowled.

“Maybe it’s because I have to share a room with you!” She shot back.

“Will it make you feel better if I show you mine?”

“No! Now get lost!” She shouted and pointed at the door.

With a stern look he said, “I’m sorry for invading your privacy. I thought they would have curtains and I wouldn’t bother you by coming in, but I do plan to shower. I’ll just go to the last stall so you won’t have to see me in all my glory if you don’t want to.”

He left her shivering in her towel and got undressed while he waited for the water to warm up. Once he got in and thoroughly rinsed himself, he could hear the patter of wet feet on the tile floor as Samantha left the bathroom.


	25. Chapter 25

Samantha couldn’t believe the nerve of him as she stalked down the hall in her towel, carrying her clothes back to the room to change. Now that she knew he liked her it felt more intrusive, because all she could picture him doing now was visualizing her naked every time he saw her. It excited her and disgusted her at the same time. She was very much confused when it came to Eric.

Still angry with him when she was clothed, she didn’t wait for him to accompany her to the cafeteria for breakfast. He could find her for all she cared. The white walled room was similar to Dauntless with rows of long tables filling the space for people to sit at, but instead of the food in trays on the tables they had a buffet style area along one of the walls where you picked the food you wanted and then sat down.

Samantha waited in line for five minutes when Eric joined it, four spots behind her. She ignored his presence and silently collected her food, on her way to sit down she realized others were looking at her odd. She wondered if they knew why she was there. Walking between the tables she bumped into a guy she didn’t know.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t see you.” She apologized.

The sneer he had turned into a smile when he saw her. “Oh no problem. You’re new aren’t you?” He asked.

“Yeah, we arrived yesterday.”

“Great. My name’s Peter.”

“Sam.” She replied and shook his hand in a friendly greeting.

“You know if you ever need a tour of the place I’ll be happy to show you around. My room especially has the best view.” He said trying to be suave but failing.

“Um, no thanks.” She tried to dodge him but he stepped in her way.

“You sure? It can get pretty boring around here when you’re cooped up for too long.”

Eric came up behind them and grabbed Peter by the shirt. “Leave her alone.” He said darkly.

“Oh, are you her boyfriend Eric?” Peter provoked him. “If you like the bad boys Sam then I’ll show you what a real bad boy is like.” He said winking at her. Eric angrily shoved him and Peter laughed and walked away.

Samantha gave Eric a look.

“I will not apologize for that. He’s a scum bag and you should steer clear of him, I mean it.” He told her with sincerity.

“I can take care of myself. You should know that from the last time you tried to kiss me.” She glared at him.

“I know. Any other guy and he’s all yours but Peter plays dirty when he wants something. Last year during his initiation he stabbed the kid who was in first place in the eye with a butter knife. Kid had to quit because he couldn’t continue and Peter took his spot as number one. You’ve caught his eye and that’s not a good thing. I bet you anything he hasn’t gotten laid in the year he’s been a prisoner here. To the Divergent girls he’s a traitor, the Abnegation girls don’t do such things outside of marriage and there aren’t many factionless girls here for him to convince to sleep with him either.”

“Why is he allowed to walk around unguarded if he’s a prisoner?” She asked confused, because Eric had guards following him. They currently were watching the scene with Peter unfold intently but decided to not interfere.

“He’s guarded alright. They’re just good at hiding it but if you look closely you can see that someone always has an eye on him. They would be stupid to not watch him and he’s stupid if he thinks they aren’t.” Eric replied.

Samantha looked about the room to find the people who were indeed watching him. She spotted a man at one of the end tables follow Peter with his eyes and when he could no longer see him another one Peter passed would take up the watch and so on as he left the cafeteria.

Eric ushered her to a table without touching her and they sat down across from one another. The silence between them was thick and lasted most of their meal.

When they were about finished Eric asked her, “Do you want to look around the compound with me?”

“Are you using the same pick up line that Peter just tried?” She asked him in disbelief.

“What? It’s not a pick up line. I just wanted to know if you wanted to walk around or not. Get to know the place together.” He defended and then rolled his eyes at her. “Are you still mad at me for the shower scene?”

Samantha groaned. “Uhh, you make it sound like a porno, but yes.”

“I already said I was sorry, what more do you want from me? So I saw you naked, it’s not like I haven’t seen a naked woman before.”

“Well it’s a big deal to me. No one has seen me naked since my parents when I was a little kid!” Samantha replied.

Eric frowned and leaned in. “Are you telling me you’re still a virgin?”

“What? How is that any of your business?” She said angrily, quickly getting up and throwing her leftovers away in the garbage before marching out of the cafeteria with Eric hot on her heels.

“Why are you following me?” She demanded.

“Where you go, I go. I’m your living shadow remember? Except for the bathroom, from now on I will stand outside the door.”

“Oh, that’s great to hear. I can actually have some privacy while I’m on the toilet!” She shouted. She made a bee-line for the bathroom and left him at the door.


	26. Chapter 26

Eric was leaning against the wall in a scowl when Four and a couple of armed Divergent found him. They spoke to his guards in hushed tones before approaching him.

“Your trial is starting so we need to get you to the conference room a.s.a.p.” Four said and his two guards each grabbed an arm.

Eric pulled away from them. “There’s no need to man handle me, I can walk.”

They hurried him through the main floor to a large room with what looked to be the entire compound population sitting around the perimeter. Eric was pushed into a chair that sat in the middle of the room and faced Tris, Four and Marcus Eaton. The entire room was silent, waiting for one of the three to speak, and during that time he spotted Samantha sneaking into the room and sitting down in one of the empty seats by the door. He felt a little less apprehensive knowing he would be able to see her one last time before he died.

Marcus stood up and cleared his throat. “We are here today to sentence the man known as Eric Coulter for crimes against Abnegation. A list of his crimes are as follows; accomplice to conspiracy, accomplice to the unlawful possession of the mind, and attempted genocide of the Abnegation faction. We hear by charge you guilty in all charges and hand over sentencing to the Divergent.” He sat down again as the room cheered.

Eric’s heart plummeted and he looked at Tris whom he could tell was angry as she stood up as the Divergent representative, which Eric assumed meant Four was the representative for the Factionless.

“On behalf of the Divergent I have discussed with my fellow leaders the situation and we have an announcement for all of you before we sentence Eric for his crimes. It has been brought to our attention that the outside world is not what the faction leaders once told us it was and last night we ventured out the gate and found evidence of the truth for ourselves.

“The people out there are free and we are prisoners within this city by our own faction creators. The fence keeps us in so we don’t find out the truth outside and ruin the social experiment we’ve become. That is the secret Jeanine Matthews is killing to keep, she wanted to stop the Abnegation from releasing such information that Marcus has now deemed appropriate to release to us in light of the situation.” Tris explained.

Shocked faces and whispers went around the room.

“We are her biggest threat now, the Divergent population cannot be controlled by her serums and she knows we have the truth so she will be coming at us hard. We’ve learned that she is gathering a small group of special soldiers to stop us. We must be on our guard and at our best, which means we pardon Eric Coulter of his crimes for the fact that he and his companion Samantha Williams were the ones who found out the truth and willingly came to us. He has shown that he is remorseful for what he has done and is with us against Jeanine. We need him and his skills to help our cause.” She announced and shouts erupted throughout the room.

Four stood up and raised his voice above theirs to finish the meeting. To Eric he said, “You may move around this facility as you please but you may not leave the building without mine or Tris’ direct orders to do so.” Angry talking continued. “Now we hate him as much as many of you do, but we will not tolerate any violence against him unless provoked.” He addressed the people in the room who quieted down. “This meeting is over and everyone can go back to their duties.”

As people got up to leave, Eric could see Samantha still sitting in her seat with a smile on her face. He was relieved that she didn’t want him dead after all. Four called them both over and she gave him a shy smile as she reached his side. He felt her body heat permeate through his side and it gave him strength to face what would come now that he was to live another day. Her hand hung loosely on his left and he fought the urge to slip his hand into hers, keeping his gaze on Four instead.

“Now that you both are staying as free members we’ll need to assign you jobs. No offense Eric but we’ll keep you away from the guns for now and have you doing maintenance.”

“Like cleaning the bathrooms type maintenance?” Eric asked annoyed.

“No. Like fixing broken things or painting walls, that sort of maintenance. You should be grateful we didn’t kill you instead.” Tris replied with a glare.

“Alright.” He sighed and let it go.

“We could use you in the kitchen’s Sam. Amity is one of the few factions that actually learn to cook.” Tris said; Sam smiled and nodded her approval. They were dismissed and they walked back to main lobby.

Eric was concerned about the fact that their new assignments would separate them and held her back with a hand on her arm. “I can’t make sure you’re safe if we’re not together.” He said.

Samantha rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry, it’s only a few hours during the day, we’ll still be sharing the room and you can hound me during free time if it makes you feel better. Besides, this place is buzzing with guards with guns, if anything happened I think I’ll be ok.” She said and looked at his skeptical face. “I’ll find you if I ever need your help, ok?” She tried to reassure him.

There wasn’t much he could do so he let it go and they went off to their respective jobs for the day.


	27. Chapter 27

A week passed and Samantha was getting used to living with the Divergent. Every morning when the power turned on she got up and showered with Eric waiting outside the door. At the beginning of the week she had tried to avoid him by going before he woke up but he caught on and was always up before she was, dressed and sitting on his bed waiting. Then he would walk her down to the cafeteria to help prepare breakfast.

She assumed that during the hour she was busy cooking he had his own shower and then he would come by to eat. She sometimes would watch him through the window in the wall where they placed the trays of food on the counter. He always sat alone and those were the only times she wished she could keep him company.

Once they finished cleaning up breakfast she would get a break for a couple of hours before she had to begin prep for lunch. Every once in a while she would see him up on a ladder fixing a light bulb down one of the hallways or putting new knobs on the doors.

Today as she walked toward the washrooms she spotted him scraping paint off one of the doorways so he could apply a new coat. It must have been tough because he was using his whole body to push the scrapper along the doorframe. His arm muscles bulged with the effort and sweat gleamed on his skin and she slowed her pace as she walked passed him.

He noticed her approaching and stopped; he wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his arm. “Where are you headed?”

“Just the bathroom, I’m allowed to go there without you right?” She replied with attitude.

She was still annoyed at the fact that he followed her everywhere and was glad they were forced to spend the days at different jobs, but that didn’t stop him very much. He always found something to fix in the kitchen or cafeteria and he would spend most of the afternoon doing it. The other girls didn’t mind it so much because he was nice to look at and they often asked her questions about him, when they weren’t teasing her about living with him or being escorted all the time.

“You don’t have to bite my head off every time I ask. I bet you would be nicer to your boy toy Silas if he was here to watch out for you instead.” He glowered.

“Silas?”

“Yeah, the guy you always hung around with during initiation.”

“I know who you’re talking about. But that’s different, he’s my friend.” She rolled her eyes.

“You do know he had a thing for you right?” Eric asked.

“He did?” Samantha was surprised at the news.

“A guy doesn’t hang around a girl that much unless he likes her.”

“What about Stacey and Astrid, they were with us all the time too.” She disagreed.

“That’s to play the friend card in case you didn’t like him back.” He explained like it was the oldest trick in the book and she should have known.

“So you’re saying that no one would want to protect me unless they liked me the way you do?” She frowned.

“That’s not what I’m saying.” He tried to appease her, but she cut him off.

“That’s what it sounds like. I’m basically worthless unless I stir enough passion to get your dick up. That’s great Eric, glad to know I make you horny.” She tried to walk away but he was quick.

“If that’s all it was for me then I would have stuck my dick in you a long time ago and left you the hell alone after.” He hissed.

She looked down at his hand grabbing her in the exact spot where her tattoo was and it was a perfect match. He loosened his grip when he noticed and everything about him softened.

“I’m sorry. I will stop following you around if that’s what you want.” He let go of her and turned back to his work.

Unsure, she slowly backed away from him and was on her way again when his deep voice said with his back still turned to her, “I would have suggested a sun if I was nicer that night. I didn’t expect you to do that just to spite me and I’m sorry for putting you in the position that you thought it were something you had to do to get me to back off.”

Samantha’s gut twisted at the pain in his voice. She was going to tell him it was alright but he had begun scraping at the trim again with ferocity so she turned back towards the washroom and continued on her original path.

Eric ended up missing lunch and dinner, and he never showed to walk her back to the room at the end of the day either. When the power turned off for the night and he still hadn’t come back, Samantha began to worry and got the flashlight from the bedside table where her and Eric each had a book resting for evening reading before retiring to bed and went to go look for him.

She looked in the cafeteria first in case he was sneaking in a late snack since he had missed two meals but the place was empty and she didn’t pass anyone else in the hallways as she searched for him either.

Samantha had turned the corner on her way to the common room where most people lounged during their breaks when someone grabbed her from behind and she felt a sharp pain in the upper arm. She smacked her head into the person behind her and shone her light into the face of Peter when he let her go. Her limbs were going numb and the flashlight shook in her grip; his busted lip thinned when he smiled as she tried to take a shaky step back but before she fell to the floor, Peter pushed her up against the wall with his knee between her legs to help keep her up and his hand roughly covered her mouth.

“You little tease. I’ve been waiting a week for you to be finally free of your bodyguard and now’s my chance to teach you a lesson about what happens when you deny a man for too long.” He said ripping her shirt open to reveal her bra.

She struggled to move her arms but they wouldn’t listen to her so she bit his hand and screamed Eric’s name when he let go. Peter cursed and slapped her face hard. With an evil smile he unzipped her pants and stuck his hand down them. Samantha closed her eyes, tears streaming down her stinging cheek when she felt Peter being jerked away from her forcefully. She tumbled to the floor and watched as Eric fought with Peter.

Others heard the commotion and ran to see what was going on. The fight was broken up and they arrested Peter when Eric explained what had happened and when they left, Eric held her like he could shield her from the world. She cried into his chest for a long time before he pulled away and patted her hair from her face.

“Are you ok? Did he hurt you?”

“He grabbed me in the dark and drugged me with something. I can’t move my body.” She explained between quiet sobs.

“Did he…?” Eric couldn’t finish the sentence.

“No, he only touched me. You came before he could get his dick out of his pants.”

Eric let out a sigh of relief. “He won’t hurt you again, I promise. They’ve arrested him and with luck he’ll be dead by tomorrow. Let’s get you to bed while the drugs should wear off.”

She nodded in agreement and he lifted her up and cradled her against his chest all the way to their shared room. He gently laid her down onto her bed and was going to cover her with the blanket when she pleaded, “Stay with me please.”

He didn’t hesitate to crawl in next to her fully clothed and wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. She must have fallen asleep soon after because the next thing she knew it was morning and her head was against his muscular chest listening to his deep even breaths as he slept. He smelled like soap and sweat and his body heat radiated into her flesh making her feel cozy and warm wrapped up in his arms.

Lying there, she realized she no longer despised him and was starting to get used to his presence, and while he was rough around the edges, he seemed to be a decent guy deep down and she regretted being so mean to him when he was right. Maybe having Eric around wasn’t so bad after all.

She looked at the clock to see what time it was and was shocked to see that she was late for the breakfast shift. Feeling bad for being late, Samantha slowly tried extracting herself from Eric’s hold but he tightened his grip around her waist and she struggled to get free.


	28. Chapter 28

Eric was roused by movement next to him. He tightened his arms around her, willing her to go back to sleep because he knew this would be the only time he would get to have her this close to him again, but she appeared to be determined to get up.

“Eric, I need to get ready for work.”

He opened an eye startled by that. “You’re going to work after what happened last night?”

“Yeah, they’re expecting me.” She replied.

“Trust me, no one is expecting you to go anywhere today. Stay here and I will go down and bring back some breakfast ok?” He offered.

“But won’t Four and Tris want to talk to me?”

“If they do, then they will come to you. Go back to sleep and I will be back soon.” When she agreed to stay he got up and left her curled up under the covers. On his way to the cafeteria he literally bumped into Christina.

“Watch where you’re going, Eric.” She brushed off invisible dust and then frowned at the smile on his face. “What are you smiling about?”

“You have perfect timing. Now I won’t have to ask Four to get you over here.” He said.

“What for?” She became suspicious.

“I need you to do something for me. There’s someone back in Dauntless, a new member named Silas that I would like you to talk to for me.”

“I’m not helping you release Divergent secrets back to the Dauntless if that’s what you’re doing.” She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

Eric shook his head. “It wouldn’t be very smart of me to ask you when you’re friends with Tris if that was my intention.”

“Then why do you want this kid?”

“He’s a friend of Sunshine’s and she wants him to know where she is, but only if he’s loyal to us and not Jeanine of course. Can you do that for me?”

She sighed. “Yeah, I suppose I could as long as he clears. For Sam that is… I was sorry to hear what happened to her last night. She should know that Peter committed suicide last night in lock up, well at least that’s what we’re telling people.” She shrugged indifferent.

Eric felt the pressure in his chest leave a little.

“I’ll see what I can do about Silas.” She said and he watched her leave the building.

When he returned to the room, Samantha was sitting up reading her book. He placed the tray on her lap and said, “Your friends in the kitchen said to send you their well wishes and to take the day off.”

She set her book down and thanked him.

“More good news,” he continued, “I heard from a reliable source that Peter died last night.” He mentioned as he sat down and Samantha just nodded her head in silence. “What’s the matter? I’d thought you would be happy.” He said confused.

“Relieved, yes, but don’t you want to know why I was walking around after dark?” She asked him.

“I can guess why.” He said ashamed of himself.

“Where were you last night?” She asked.

“I was trying to give you space so I thought I would spend the night on one of the couches in the common room. You would never have been there if I had just come back here for the night and I’m sorry.” He apologized.

“No, it was my fault. You were right and I should’ve listened to you instead of fighting with you over it.” She chuckled softly. “Geez, twice you’ve tried to protect me and I just wouldn’t listen to you and look where it got me, factionless and almost raped. From now on I promise to try and do what you say.”

He smiled and joked, “That would probably take a miracle.”

“Probably.” She agreed with a laugh.

The shared amusement he felt from their joke faded as Eric watched her eat her food and allowed his guilt to slowly eat away at him. Peter would never have gone after her if he hadn’t left her defenseless and last night he realized he probably wasn’t the best choice to be protecting her if she didn’t want him to and that’s why he sent for Silas. He hoped the kid decided he really did care about her enough to leave Dauntless, but he couldn’t be sure that would happen until Silas showed his ugly face, and so he decided to keep watch from a distance until then.


	29. Chapter 29

“Eric hasn’t been around lately.” Samantha’s friend, Victoria, said as she stirred soup next to her.

Samantha sighed, she had noticed too. Ever since she went back to her routine after the incident with Peter a few days ago, Eric became scarce. The only times she managed to see him were first thing in the morning, during meals and just before lights went out, every other time he was nowhere to be seen.

But he did appear to be making friends now that people heard he took down Peter. The last couple of days his co-worker, Justin, began to sit with him. As far as she could tell they made friendly conversation and they would even laugh on occasion. Eric’s smile always softened his features and gave him the appearance of someone who liked to laugh. It reminded her of when they won the war game and she found herself smiling warmly at the memory.

The image of him being the cruel leader was fading and now she saw a man who was actually friendly towards others and had a good sense of humor; he was protective and loyal when he believed in you. While she thought about it she realized that she did like him and more than a friend, but now she wasn’t sure if he still liked her seeing as how he was avoiding her.

“What did you do to make him to back off? He’s not even escorting you anymore.” Victoria asked like she had read her mind.

“I have no idea, he just stopped one day.” She responded sadly.

“I swore he had a thing for you. Do you like him?” Her friend asked her.

“Yeah, I think I do.”

“Then make a move!” Victoria exclaimed.

Samantha sighed, thinking it over. She could turn the tables and just start following him around but that didn’t sound like it said ‘I like you’ and she didn’t want to say it outright either.

“Who’s that?” Victoria asked, taking her away from her thoughts.

Samantha looked up at the entrance to the cafeteria where her friend motioned and froze. Silas stood there looking about the room, frantic. She dropped the knife she was using to chop carrots and rushed over to him. His smile widened when he spotted her and they hugged like reuniting lovers.

“How did you get here?” She asked holding him at arms’ length.

“Christina told me where you were, I just had to come see you.”

“Christina? But how would she know we knew each other?” She asked mostly herself then it hit her, Eric must have told her. She looked over at him at his table and found him watching them with a sad look; he looked away when he realized she was watching him too. She wondered why he would bother to reunite her with someone he hated.

“I’m starving.” Silas mentioned when she remained quiet.

“Of course!” She dragged him over to the food and then they sat down together at an empty table.

“Won’t Dauntless notice you’re gone? Are you planning to stay?” She gushed with curiosity.

“I’m staying. Christina told me what is going on and I either had to stay at Dauntless and work for Jeanine or come here and help you guys. I obviously chose you.” He smiled shyly.

“I’m so glad you’re here! I just wish you could have brought Stacey and Astrid too.”

“Maybe we can later on.” He suggested and took a bite of his sandwich.

“What did you tell Four and Tris so they let you in?”

“That Christina sent me. They gave me truth serum and asked me a bunch of questions which I must have passed because they let me go… I need to know, what exactly happened when you left Dauntless anyway? Eric said you quit.” He asked her intently.

“I did quit, but not until Max ordered Eric to kill me if I didn’t kick Eric’s ass first.” She told him with a shrug of the shoulder.

“I knew he had something to do with it! And he acted like it wasn’t his fault. If we ever find him I’ll kick his ass myself!” He was angry.

“Well… Since you brought that up, Eric’s here and it might not be a good idea to beat him up because Four forbade it.” She said sheepishly and when Silas’s lips thinned and his brow furrowed, she quickly said, “Look, it’s a long story. Short form, Eric found me living outside the gate where I learned the truth about the factions and I showed him so we came here to tell the Divergent. They forgave him for trying to kill them and now he’s working on the maintenance crew… Oh and we share a room because they didn’t have room to set us up separately.” She mumbled the last part.

“You sleep in the same room?!” He half shouted and half asked.

“It’s not a big deal, Silas.” She tried to calm him before he made a scene.

“Not a big deal?! The guy tried to kill you and now you share a bed with him!”

“We have separate beds and it’s none of your business but I just wanted to warn you in case you saw him come out of my room one morning and freak out or something.” Samantha said.

“I’m freaking out now.”

“I can see that and so can the rest of the room.” She said noticing people at the tables around them looking in their direction.

A hand clamped down on Silas’s shoulder causing them both to look up at whoever it was. Eric stood behind him with a grim look on his face. “Mind if I have a word with him, Sunshine?” He asked her.

She shook her head. “I need to get back to work anyway.” She whispered to Eric as she passed by, “Take it easy on him, he’s my friend.”

Back at work she watched them from the hole in the wall. They stood rigid as they faced each other and she could only see Eric’s face because Silas had his back to her. He didn’t look mad or friendly but when they were done talking neither one went to strike the other so she guessed it must have been an okay conversation. Eric left to continue with his daily tasks and Silas sat back down and looked in her direction; she waved at him.

For the time being, until they could clear out another room, Silas was assigned to share a room with one of the Divergent guards named Gary but he had to sleep on the floor and so when the lunch shift was over she showed him where his room was and gave him a tour of the rest of the building. She had the dinner shift off that night so they spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the common room playing board games. They stayed so long that the lights went out in the middle of their game.

“What happened?” Silas asked.

“I forgot to mention that. Power gets turned off once the sun goes down, you’ll need to use a flashlight from now on until sunrise.” She handed him the flashlight that she kept in her pocket for this reason. “Do you know your way back to your room?” She asked him.

“Yeah, but let me walk you to yours first since I have your flashlight.”

When they reached her door, Silas glared at it like he could see Eric on the other side. He was usually back before the lights went out so he should be inside but she didn’t want Silas to know that. To know that Silas liked her, according to Eric anyway, was flattering but she really didn’t want to deal with two guys fighting over her, especially when she only felt friendship towards one of them.

Not ready to tell Silas that, she said, “Thanks for walking me back. Eric’s probably still working by flashlight, like usual, so I’ll just head to bed. See you tomorrow?”

“You bet.” He smiled and saluted her as he left.

“There you are, I was about to go looking for you.” Eric said when she entered.

He still had his clothes on but proceeded in taking them off now that she was back and she grabbed her pajamas before diving under the covers to change herself. She normally went to the washroom to change when Eric was around but that was when the lights were still on and when she was done, she couldn’t help but watch as the dim moonlight shone on the expanse of his bare back and showed his muscles move underneath his skin as he moved about. She badly wanted to run her hands along his upper body and feel his arms wrapped around her again but she wasn’t ready to reveal such feelings to him yet so she rested her head against her pillow and closed her eyes.

She must have been dreaming about Eric because when she awoke in the middle of the night she swore she could feel someone running a finger along her face and the lightest touch on her lips, but no one was beside her and Eric was in his bed. Her skin still tingled from the realistic dream and instead of falling back asleep, the rest of the night she just reimagined Eric touching her face, over and over again.


	30. Chapter 30

Eric couldn’t sleep. He couldn’t get the image of Samantha and Silas hugging out of his head or the look of pure happiness when she first saw him. He had been watching for her reaction as soon as he noticed Silas in the doorway and although he knew she would be happy, he didn’t expect her to be that happy and it bugged him.

When she had finally come back to the room and went to sleep he had tried as well but after tossing and turning for a few hours he gave up. He swung his legs over the side and sat there watching her sleep, her deep rhythmic breathing the only sound in the room. At the time he wanted the chance to memorize her face before she was lost to him forever so he crouched in front of her bed and traced her features lightly with his fingertip. Her skin was soft and smooth and he loved the small smattering of freckles that sprinkled along her nose.

She hadn’t woken up so he risked a light kiss. Eric had to fight the urge to snake his hand behind her head and deepen it but once he retreated, her breathing changed and he knew she would be waking up so he quietly snuck back into his bed and pretended to be asleep when she looked over at him.

He knew right away it was a mistake because all he wanted to do that morning when they both got up was push her up against the wall and shove his tongue down her throat. He headed straight for the showers and turned on the cold water before she could even say good morning.

When he got back to the room Silas was waiting for Samantha, who stepped out as he neared.

“Hey Eric, want to come with us to breakfast?” She asked him and he shook his head.

“No thanks, I need to get a head start on cleaning up the new floor so new members have a place to stay.” He declined.

She looked like she wanted to ask him something but Silas tugged her hand when he began heading to the cafeteria and she changed her mind. She did look back at him as they walked away, though.

His eye twitched as he watched them leave with Silas’s arm casually draped over her shoulders. Yesterday when Silas appeared, like Eric had hoped, he asked him to protect her for him and of course the kid was happy to do it, and now Eric’s fists clenched at the thought of Silas making a move on her, but he knew he had no claim on her and would have to live with it if he did.

It was his stupid plan after all.

He was getting changed into his ratty work clothes when he heard knocking at the door. He opened it and found Tris standing there.

“What do you want?” He leaned against the frame and asked.

“We’ve got a problem and we need your help.” Was all she said before turning around and walking away.

Curious, he shut the door and followed her to the office where Marcus and Four sat waiting for them.

“What’s going on?” He asked the three of them.

“Yesterday a new member joined us, you probably know him since he was your initiate this year.” Four said.

“Silas, yeah I saw him. What about him?” Eric was getting annoyed.

“He told us some startling information when he arrived and we’ve been trying to think of a way to use it to our advantage.” Four continued.

“OK. What is this information and what do you want me for?”

“He said Jeanine has a new serum to enhance her soldier’s abilities so they’re stronger and faster than any of us.” Tris explained.

“Did you know about it?” Four asked him.

“If I had I would have mentioned it during my interrogation when I got here. You asked me her plan and I told you she had a special team, I just didn’t know she was enhancing them.” He replied.

“Ok, then we need you to go back and find out how to stop them.” Four said and Eric’s heart plummeted. He was waiting for the day he would have to leave.

“How are we going to get me back inside?” He asked bravely.

“Our plan so far is to send Jeanine a message; letting her know we have you captive and wish to exchange you for the video she stole from Abnegation.” Marcus replied.

“What video?” He looked at the Abnegation leader in confusion.

“The one that explains the real reason as to why we’re in the city. Abnegation was going to release it to the public before she stopped us.” Marcus explained.

Eric leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. “That video is the reason why she is doing all of this. I’m not worth giving that up.” He said, rejecting their plan.

“Right now we don’t care about getting the real video, we just needed something to make it believable that we were only willing to part with you for something important like that video. She might be willing to give up a fake for you or she may offer something else that we can accept.” Tris said.

“Ok, that might work. When do you plan on sending this message?” Eric asked.

“Tonight, we have people out looking for one of hers to abduct and relay it back to her when we let them go.” She replied.

“Eric, if she does accept the exchange we will have to make it look like you have been kept prisoner for the last few weeks.” Four said.

He knew what he meant. They were going to beat the crap out of him to make it look like he had struggled to escape or just because they hated him. He nodded his head to show them he understood.

“We’ll give her overnight to think it over and request an answer by noon tomorrow. Someone will let you know when the switch is to be made.” Four finished the meeting.

Eric took his cue and left the office to get to work. The sooner he finished one of the new dorms the sooner Silas would have an assigned room so he wouldn’t be obligated to take Eric’s bed after he left. He’d be damned if he was going to make it that easy for the kid to take his girl.

Three hours later he was hard at work mopping the tiled floor when Samantha showed up. “Do you want any help?” She asked him, standing in the doorway.

He didn’t stop mopping but he took a quick glance to notice that Silas wasn’t with her. “Where’s the boy toy? Get tired of him already?”

“He had to get suited up for guard duty today. They thought he would be useful since he is Dauntless and all.”

Of course, he got the girl and the gun while Eric was stuck cleaning. He was a lucky SOB and Eric looked forward to the day he could kick his ass.

He ignored her as much as he could without replying and kept mopping but when he didn’t answer her she picked up a rag and went to wipe off the walls. The girl was driving him crazy, first when he was stalking her she didn’t want him around and now that he was trying to avoid her she was seeking him out. He wanted to make a clean break before it got too hard to let her go, like ripping a band aid off quickly so there was less pain involved.

“I don’t need your help. I’m sure you want to relax on your day off so go read or something.” He said and she looked hurt at his attempt to convince her to leave.

“Fine.” She whispered and left in a hurry.

He cursed himself and continued cleaning vigorously the rest of the day. His co-worker, Justin, was cleaning the dorm next to his and when he took a break for meal times he brought them both up a plate and they ate together. Eric actually liked talking to him because he was a Divergent from Amity in his mid-40’s and he remembered Samantha.

“When are you going to be honest with that girl and tell her you love her?” He said as he sat down on the floor across from Eric.

He frowned at Justin’s question and focused on his food. “Probably never.”

“Why the hell not?” Justin asked slightly indignant.

“There’s no point, tomorrow I might be sent back to Dauntless and if I don’t end up dead, I still won’t deserve her.”

“Maybe you don’t, but that doesn’t mean you don’t need her and she you. She turned you back into a decent fellow and you…”

Eric cut him off. “Did nothing for her. She was already brave when I met her.”

“I was going to say, before I was rudely interrupted,” Justin gave the younger man a pointed look, “That you’ve shown her that sometimes protecting herself and those she loves with violence is sometimes a necessity and that’s ok. She’ll need that one day. You’re a good man Eric, don’t tell yourself otherwise.”

“Even if what you say is true, I doubt she has the same feelings for me. She’s got Silas now so she doesn’t need me anymore.” He told the older man, unsure.

“That’s only because you keep pushing her away. I heard you basically tell her to get lost when she came up here to help you out. She probably doesn’t know how you feel about her any more than she knows how she feels about you.” Justin said.

They ate the rest of their meal in silence and when they finished Justin patted Eric’s leg and got up to return their dirty plates, leaving Eric alone with his thoughts. He was exhausted by the time the power went out and he plopped onto his bed long after Samantha did and quickly fell into a dreamless sleep.


	31. Chapter 31

Samantha woke up to find the room empty of Eric’s presence once again and she was pissed. He was avoiding her and she wanted to know why. The arrogant prick harassed her for weeks and then when she started to like him back he ditched her. She had thought that maybe he was upset with the appearance of Silas and felt left out but when she tried to include him with or without Silas he kept declining. Plus what was his deal when it was him who brought Silas here in the first place?

She wasn’t due to be in the kitchens for another hour so she angrily shoved her clothes on and went in search of him. Her best guess was that he was having a shower and her anger propelled her in without the slightest discomfort at the possible invasion of his privacy. She found him in the middle shower stall with his back to her, rubbing the bar of soap over his chest as the water rinsed it off. 

“Why are you avoiding me?” She asked with fervour. He flinched with surprise and covered himself before he turned to face her.

“Are you hiding your parts from me? Two weeks ago you would have been flashing me your dick during this whole conversation. What’s up with you?” She just didn’t understand the change in him.

“I think it would be best if you spent more time with Silas than with me.” He said sounding exhausted.

“Why? I thought you didn’t like him.”

“I don’t, but he’s better for you than I am and I won’t be around much longer.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Four and Tris are ransoming me back to Jeanine so I can spy on her for them.”

She wanted to scream. “Why?”

“Silas came back with news of her having super soldiers so they need someone who can find out how to stop them and Christina doesn’t have the kind of position to do it, but I would.”

“No, you can’t go back.” She whispered.

“I have to. They already sent the ransom last night and we should hear back today.” He replied, resigned to the fact it was a done deal.

“They will kill you if they find out the truth, you can’t do it!” She shouted at him, but he remained calm.

“Sunshine, I can’t stay here if she wants me back.”

She leaned in seething with anger. “No! You’re not going!” She cried and stormed out of the bathroom to find Four and Tris.

As she walked away from him she could hear him calling after her, “Sunshine, come back! Dammit, why doesn’t she ever listen to me?! Samantha, stop!”

She stopped walking and turned to find him wearing only his pants and water dripping all around him. “You never call me Samantha.”

“I’m serious. You can’t stop it so there’s no point in trying. If I don’t do it then a lot of us will die, including you and I can’t have that.” He said.

“But I don’t want you to leave me.” She rushed and hugged him tightly, tears running down her face. He patted her head gently, accepting her embrace.

“Are you trying to tell me that you finally have feelings for me?”

“Yes.” She murmured into his chest.

“Took you long enough, were you ever going to tell me if I wasn’t leaving?” She couldn’t see him roll his eyes but she was sure he did and looked up at him.

“I don’t know. I thought I had more time to hymn and haw first. What? When you started to ignore me I thought maybe you didn’t like me anymore so I wasn’t going to confess if that was the case.” She said at his exasperated look.

He smiled and shook his head at her before kissing her sweetly. “I take back what I said about hanging out with Silas.” He said and hugged her close to him; she gave him a small smile.

“Can’t I go with you?”

“No, that would create too many questions for it to work. I promise I’ll do my best to come back as soon as I find out what I need to.” He replied.

“Ok.” She whispered.

He leaned in for another kiss and this time it was hungry. She wrapped her fingers around his large biceps and pulled him closer; together they shuffled until her back hit the wall. Eric was gently grinding her when someone coughed to catch their attention and they reluctantly parted.

“Sorry to interrupt but Eric’s needed in the office.” A random guard said uncomfortably.

“Looks like it’s time. I don’t want you to follow me, ok? Find Silas and stick with him in case things get hairy and for heaven’s sake please listen to me this time. I don’t need to worry about you more than I already do if I’m going to be spying.” He pleaded. She pursed her lips but nodded.

She watched as he got his clothes out of the bathroom and dried off while following the guard down the hall. Once in a while he would look back at her before they turned the corner and she broke down crying as soon as he was out of sight.


	32. Chapter 32

Eric entered the small conference room that he was shown to and sat down in one of the chairs by the three leaders. He became worried that the plan hadn’t worked when he saw Tris pacing back and forth with a worried expression on her face.

“Did Jeanine decline your offer?” He asked them.

“Yes and no.” Four replied. “She wasn’t willing to give up the video but she has offered to exchange Christina for you, it appears she knows that she’s spying for us. Tris wants her out of there before they hurt her so we agreed. We’re to meet her at the bean structure in two hours to make the switch.” He explained.

“I guess this means we get down to business then. Who’s going to take the first punch?” He stood up and moved the chair out of the way.

Tris marched up to him and stared him down with anger written all over her face. “I’m first, for my family and my friends.”

“Better make it look good, Stiff.” He taunted.

She clocked him good on the left cheek and kept swinging at him, busting his lip and bruising his right eye, until Four held her back.

“That’s enough Tris.” He whispered in her ear to calm her down as he pulled her away.

Eric wiped the blood from his lip off with the sleeve of his shirt and watched Four stand before him with an emotionless face.

“My turn.” He said before he punched Eric in the nose with one solid blow and another to his kidney’s, bringing Eric down to his knees from the pain. Four hit him again so he completely fell to the floor and proceeded to kick him in the ribs a couple of times. He then backed off and left Eric to lay there coughing as he tried to regain his breath.

“That should do to convince her.” Four said and offered him a hand to lift him up to his feet once he could breathe again.

Eric shook his head when he was back up. “Not yet. I need to look like I put up a fight.”

He walked over to the wall and punched it, not enough to hurt his hand but enough to scrape up his knuckles so it looked like he had hit someone back.

“OK, now we’re ready.” He told them, shaking out the pain from his hand and they set out for their destination.

In the last week or so the weather turned chilly and as they made their way to the designated meeting place, snow fell from the sky and melted as soon as it hit the pavement. Eric’s wrists where cuffed behind his back and Four had a good grip on his upper arm pretending to be forcing him to not run in case she had people watching them.

When they arrived Eric could see his reflection in the silver bean and was glad Samantha hadn’t been there to watch him get beat up. The left side of his face was slowly turning from red to purple and blood still dripped from his nose to blend in with the blood that smeared across his fat lip.

Jeanine’s soldiers were already waiting for them with Christina held in a similar fashion as Eric. She looked fine physically and really pissed off.

“Where’s Jeanine?” Tris asked them.

“Back at headquarters, urgent matters required her to stay behind. We’ve been instructed to give you Christina in exchange for Eric, peacefully.” One of them spoke up.

“That was the agreement.” Four appeared agitated but nodded anyway.

Eric figured he was probably insulted that Jeanine didn’t show up, he would be too if he was conducting business with her. He was actually a little insulted himself that she didn’t come to make sure he was handed over safely if he was that important to her.

He was forced out of his thoughts when Four shoved him hard in their direction and he just barely caught himself before he fell over. Four ignored the glare he gave him and escorted him to the Dauntless guard on the other side as Christina was ushered over to Tris by the other one. Eric and Christina’s wrists were freed and both parties hesitantly exited, wanting to make sure the other didn’t open fire.

Eric and his security detail got into Jeanine’s car that was parked nearby and drove off. He assumed they were taking him to see Jeanine at Erudite, but he was surprised when they arrive at Dauntless headquarters instead and waiting outside the front entrance was Jeanine herself.

“Welcome back Eric.” She greeted him.

“Glad to be back.” He said giving her a fake smile, hoping it looked genuine.

“Well, it looks like they took good care of you during your stay.” She said with sarcasm as she moved his head side to side by his chin. “No matter, wounds can heal. I’m just glad that you are still alive.” She let him go and motioned for him to follow her as she entered the building and they walked down the dimly lit hallway.

“Can you tell me how you ended up captured by the Divergent?” She asked casually.

“I asked for a few days off and on my way to visit you they jumped me from behind, knocked me unconscious.” He lied.

“I hadn’t realized the way to Erudite was through the gate.” She said and Eric tensed up but didn’t let it show on his face.

“You see, Eric, we knew where you were the whole time and when you tried to get Silas to join you he came to us, so we made a deal. He fed you information about the super soldiers for us and we let him get his girlfriend out safely when we attacked.” Jeanine boasted.

Eric was relieved to hear that Samantha would be able to get away safely but he focused on getting as much information as he could since they were already on to him.

“So he told us a lie?” He asked wanting to know how badly the situation was.

“Oh no, it’s true all right. We have developed a serum to enhance strength, speed and agility in all our soldiers that have been tested. The serum gives us control of the brain but we can only give specific goals to achieve, the soldier must rely on his own instincts and skills to perform those goals thus why we need someone with good combat knowledge and authority to guide the rest and that’s where you come in Eric.” She nodded to the guards behind him and they grabbed him with an incredible amount of strength.

He didn’t bother to struggle and instead asked, “Why would you give us that information on purpose?”

“To draw you in of course, the Divergent can’t be controlled by serums but they also can’t withstand a real army with real weapons now can they? Them having the knowledge of our army is no threat to us because they don’t know how to stop them, which my guess is what you were sent here to do, wasn’t it? It’s too bad you’ll never find out now.” She shrugged half-heartedly and gestured for them to take him away.

This time Eric did struggle and he called out to her retreating back, “How can you turn your own nephew into a mindless soldier?”

Jeanine turned back to face him. “Faction before blood, remember Eric? You stopped being my nephew the second you became Dauntless.” And she left him to be dragged down to the lowest level of the compound where she established her laboratory for experiments with the help of Max.

The room was sterile white with a row of three aptitude testing chairs along one wall facing a wall of windows that looked into another room where the lab technicians observed the progression of the serum through the subject’s body.

All three chairs were unoccupied at the moment so they shoved him into the nearest one and his hands and legs where restrained to the chair with metal cuffs. One of the technicians approached with a needle as soon as he was securely fastened and injected him in the neck.

“This will hurt a bit once it starts flowing through your blood stream, it usually takes a couple of days to take full effect but the pain will be over in a few hours.” The squinty eyed man explained but Eric remained silent.

He was in trouble and no one would know about it until he was the one shooting them down. He prayed that Samantha got far away and never found out.


	33. Chapter 33

Silas found Samantha a couple of hours after Eric left, crying against a wall down the hallway that led to her room and rushed over. He crouched in front of her and gently touched her on the shoulder.

“Are you alright? What happened?”

Instead of shying away like she wanted to, she sniffled and looked up at the concern in his voice. “Eric’s gone.” Samantha held back the fresh tears that threatened to spill with her words.

“He’s dead?” He asked her confused.

“He might as well be. He went back to Dauntless to spy on Jeanine.” She explained and Silas perked up.

“When did he leave?”

Bewildered by his sudden enthusiasm she replied, “This morning.”

He quickly grabbed her by the arm and gently pulled her up. “We need to go.” He said and pulled her along down the hallway.

“Why?”

“It’s not safe here anymore.”

“Why not?” She asked again like a child.

Annoyed, he stopped and turned to face her. “We’re going to be attacked. I don’t know for sure when but soon and we need to get out before they do.”

“What are you talking about?” A sinking feeling began to eat at her stomach.

“Jeanine said as soon as she had Eric they were going to attack the building.” He explained and reached for her hand again but she pulled away.

“You’re working with Jeanine?”

“I did it to save us. By helping her I got us safe passage out of this mess before everyone dies.”

With a stern look she said, “If you ever want me to forgive you for this, then you are going to help me get Eric back after we warn Four and Tris.”

Silas’ eyes pleaded with her as much as his words did. “Samantha, please just come with me. Jeanine promised to let us live if we go, but if we stay or go into Dauntless then we’re dead.”

Samantha snatched the gun from the holder on his hip and pointed it at his face. “I am not going to leave Eric in Dauntless to die. Now man up and help me get in there.”

“Why do you care so much about Eric?”

She thought about her answer before confessing, “I’m in love with him.”

Silas looked defeated. “So you picked him, after all the shit he put you through. Did it ever occur to you that maybe I came for you because I loved you?” He asked.

Samantha frowned but didn’t let the gun waiver. “Eric mentioned it but I just don’t feel the same way, I’m sorry. We’re wasting time, will you help me or not?” He glared at her and the gun but silently nodded his head.

Just as she lowered the gun the building shook violently and they fell to the floor, covering their heads from the debris that fell from the ceiling. The fire alarm may have been unused for the last century but its’ shrill ring indicated that the system still worked. Ears covered, they both got up and staggered to the stairwell that led down to the fire exit on the main floor. Samantha really hoped that their attackers weren’t on foot waiting for them to leave the building.

They could hear many feet pounding down the steps but they didn’t see anyone as they hurried down themselves. Samantha figured that must have meant they weren’t storming the building and when she burst through the exit door the only people who were there were the other members trying to get to safety. Most appeared to be ok, covered in dust, but others were wounded. She wasn’t sure if there were any casualties but she assumed they would still be in the building if there were.

She rushed over to help the medical staff with the wounded since she had experience volunteering at the hospital and was immersed in it until Four, Tris and Christina appeared.

“What happened?” Four panted, out of breath.

“Jeanine is what happened.” She replied still busy wrapping up Marcus Eaton’s arm.

“How do you know?” He asked and she titled her head in Silas’ direction. Noticing, Four rounded on him. “How did Jeanine know to attack us here? She sure didn’t follow us since we weren’t even back yet when the explosion happened. Did you tell her?”

Silas shook his head eagerly. “No, she already knew. She just wanted me to pass on information to get Eric back and once she did she said she was going to attack.”

“We gave you truth serum before we allowed you entry, how did you lie?” Tris asked.

“Jeanine gave me a serum that counteracts the truth serum and I took it before you interrogated me.” He explained.

Christina stepped in. “You got the serum after I already talked to you, not before, right?” He nodded. “When you said to me you were on our side that was the truth, then why did you tell Jeanine?”

“I wanted to make sure Samantha was safe. If you guys went to war there would be a good chance she got hurt so I made a deal with Jeanine so she and I could leave the city and be done with it all. I know it was selfish of me but I couldn’t think of another way.”

“What did she want with Eric?” Four asked him.

Silas shook his head, “I have no idea, but it probably means he’s still alive.”

“Does that mean we have a chance to get him back safely?” Samantha asked with hope.

“Maybe, I just hope it’s not a trap. It looks like this attack was just to piss us off, one bomb to the building and they backed off. They could be hoping that we counterattack and lead us into an ambush.” Four replied.

“If you’re afraid of an ambush, then I will go in alone.” Samantha said with determination, but Four stopped her from leaving with a hand on her shoulder.

“We’ll attack at first light, but first we need to finish dealing with the dead and wounded before coming up with a plan tonight.” He said.

“Ok.” She agreed with a nod and got back to work on Marcus as the others rushed off to help more people.


	34. Chapter 34

It was evening the same day that Eric arrived and he leaned back against the chair exhausted as the pain finally subsided. No wonder they had to restrain the patient because all he wanted to do through the whole process was claw at his skin and dig out at what felt like tiny pins inching their way up to his brain. In another day he would be controllable by Jeanine and he was determined to get himself out of this situation before then. There had to be a way for him to find out how to stop the serum.

The sound of heels clicking on the sterile white tiles brought him out of his thoughts to see Jeanine approach him. He eyed up the tray of food she carried with her. He was starving, he had missed breakfast before leaving with Four and Tris and he was in too much pain to eat the lunch they offered him earlier.

“I brought you dinner. The chicken noodle soup should help ease the after effects of the serum.” She said, pulling up a chair next to him.

“You might want to release my hands so I can eat it.” He replied.

“That won’t be necessary, I can feed you.” She spooned up some of the soup and offered it to his closed mouth.

He grunted in annoyance but opened his mouth and accepted the food; he studied her quietly as she fed him. It angered him that someone could hide their poisonous personality beneath such poised elegance and fool everyone who met her, including him, and now that he had her undivided attention it was probably the best chance he would have to get some answers from her.

“How did you find out where the divergent were?” He asked between spoonfuls.

“We followed their friend Christina. We knew Tris would make contact at some point and we were right. We found their hideout and fed Christina false information to make them think we were busy searching outside the gate when really we were biding our time to perfect and build our army.” She replied.

“I was one of your leaders and I helped you kill Abnegation, why didn’t you tell me your whole plan?” He was curious about this the most.

“No one knows the whole picture except me, for this reason.” She motioned to him in the chair. “I only give different bits and pieces to each person in case someone betrays me and whatever info comes back to us as leaked then I know who the tattle tale was.” She explained calmly and he realized she didn’t care who she had to get rid of to fulfill her plan.

“I know you can’t control the Divergent with your serums but do you know why the serums don’t work?” He asked.

“This is beginning to sound like an interrogation, Eric.”

“It is. I want answers before you turn me into a mindless robot.” He said.

“You were never one to ask so many questions before.” She replied.

“And look where that got me, killing innocent people just so you can keep everyone under your thumb.” He retorted.

Jeanine rolled her eyes at him. “Don’t be so dramatic. I’m only trying to keep our lives peaceful and safe as they were before Abnegation threatened to release that stupid video and destroy everything we’ve built here. As for your question, I’ve managed to observe a couple of the Divergent closely and we’ve determined that they are people who merely have become immune to the serums over generations, like a virus that evolves against medicine. And that poses the problem because if we can’t use the serums on them then we can’t keep them inline, which makes them dangerous.”

Eric immediately got an idea, but he didn’t want to give it away so he asked another question, “What was on the video?”

Her shoulders made the slightest movement that represented a shrug. “It explains why the factions were made and that we only had a century to make it work, after that we were supposed to go out and inform the president of our progress or they would take the city back from us. A century passed twenty years ago and no one has come yet, but we’ve made preparations for the time when they do decide to come.”

“Like what?”

“Our super soldiers are not only for the Divergent, Eric. You’ll have a bigger purpose than that. You will be the defender of the city from the outside world as well.” She replied.

Eric bent his head in frustration. “Great, so not only am I to kill more of our own people but now you want me to fight against an entire country. Have you gone crazy Jeanine? There’s no way we can defend against that many enemies without destroying this whole city and everyone in it.”

“I will not let anyone ruin what we have, be it the Divergent or some country that we are no longer a part of that wants to take away the technology and science that WE created! We worked hard for what we have and they would just steal it from us!” She replied with anger.

“So this is really about you and your greed for power.” Eric snarled and Jeanine slapped him across the face.

“Enjoy sleeping in that chair, Eric. I hope it rubs you the wrong way just like I know murdering your friends will.” She stormed out of the room.

Eric roared and fought against the restraints as hard as he could to get free. The racket caused one of the technicians to come in with a needle in hand and he glared at the man, red faced with anger, as he was given a sedative and soon fell asleep.


	35. Chapter 35

Once all the injured and deceased were taken care of they spent a good majority of the evening coming up with a plan and then this morning after a fitful sleep on the hard floor in one of the conference rooms that was untouched by the bomb, Samantha followed Four, Tris and another guard she hadn’t met yet by the name of Uriah, to the Dauntless compound.

The sky glowed pink and orange as the sun came up behind them as they slowly crept towards the building that held the initiates entrance. It was never used by anyone other than for initiation and so Four said it should be unguarded.

They hadn’t used the train to get there in the chance that they ran into someone and so they used the rickety fire escape on the side of the building to reach the roof. The rifle they gave Samantha to use was slung behind her back while she clung to the railing, hoping that the creaking noises the fire escape made on their way up did not indicate it was going to fall apart.

When they reached the top they made sure the coast was clear before nearing the edge that overlooked the hole. Samantha peered over and stepped back, it was a long way down and she had no idea how she did it the first time. She bumped into Four who stood directly behind her also looking down.

“Who’s first? Samantha?” Uriah asked.

“I think we’ve established that my kind of bravery is not the same as other Dauntless who like to do this sort of thing…” Her voice trailed off as Tris stepped off the ledge and Uriah followed soon after. They must have been that kind of Dauntless then, she thought to herself. That left her and Four to contemplate the fall.

“Why don’t you go first, Four.” She suggested and he shook his head.

“I need a little more time to work my courage up. Besides I don’t want you staying up here by yourself if you can’t go through with it. I can find another way in if I choose not to jump.”

“So you’re scared too?” She was curious.

“Everyone is afraid of something and heights happen to be one of mine. Don’t be ashamed of them, Sam. Being scared of something but facing it anyway is an act of bravery.” He said.

Samantha sighed and nodded in agreement before she took the plunge into the darkness to land on the net at the bottom. When Uriah helped her down she noticed the small smear of blood on his temple. “What happened to you?” She asked.

Uriah smiled and shrugged. “My rifle smacked me in the head when I hit the net, hurt like an s.o.b.” She smiled back as Four came down.

The next part of the plan was to find Tori, the tattoo artist who was sympathetic to their cause because her brother was killed by Jeanine for being a Divergent as Samantha had found out last night. They weren’t sure what Jeanine’s purpose for Eric was and they didn’t have a lot of time to search for him so they thought it best to see if Tori could give them any clues first because she saw almost every member in her chair and sometimes people gossiped.

Four knew where her apartment was and where all the cameras were set up so he led them down the dark and empty hallways. It was too early in the morning for most of the population to be up so they had no trouble avoiding people as long as they could avoid being spotted on the cameras. If they were they would have no chance to find Eric or make it out if the rumors about the super soldiers were correct. 

They came up to a door with 4b in gold on it and Four knocked. The door opened to reveal Tori in only a grey cotton nightshirt and her face went from surprised to cautious in an instant. She waved them in and closed the door behind them softly.

“What are you guys doing here?” She hissed at Four.

“We need to find Eric. We were hoping you might know where he is.” He replied, wasting no time with pleasantries.

“Eric? He’s been missing for weeks. Word buzzing around here is that you guys captured him.” She said confusion written all over her features.

“We did have him until we gave him back to Jeanine yesterday. That’s when we found out he’s an important piece to her plan and we need to get him back.”

“What plan? I thought Dauntless stopped helping Jeanine after what happened last year.” Tori said.

“So I take it no one around here knows about her turning people into super soldiers to kill the Divergent with?” Samantha crossed her arms over her chest and scowled at her.

Tori frowned. “You mean like superfast?”

“Yeah and super strong, among other things.” Samantha replied.

Tori sat down on her black leather couch. “I think I might know someone who fits the bill. His name is Casey Jackson, he came by the tattoo parlor the other day and when he accidently knocked over a bottle of ink he grabbed it so fast I didn’t even see his hand move. I didn’t say anything about it, but it freaked me out.”

“Where can we find him?” Tris asked in a hurry.

“I don’t know. I don’t see him around very much. He’s on a crew that Max made up a few months ago. They supposedly track Erudite’s movements. You might be able to catch him on his way down to the lowest level, that’s where they have their training centre but you won’t be able to get down there if you miss him, special personnel only.” Tori said.

Samantha looked at her companions hopefully. “Maybe they’ve got Eric down there.”

“Sounds like it’s our best bet.” Uriah replied.

“How are we going to get this Casey guy to let us in? He’ll probably be able to kick our butts before we can get down there.” Samantha asked.

Her companions remained silent for a few seconds before Tris replied, “It won’t matter who gets us in as long as we know they’re headed to the lowest level. We can catch a guy by surprise and sedate him. Then Four can wear his uniform and use his pass card to get through the door without drawing attention on the camera.”

“That means he will have to get Eric on his own.” Uriah said concerned.

“All I have to do is make people think I belong there and they won’t pay me any mind until I break Eric out and then I’ll have him as back up. It’s a good plan and probably the best one we can come up with right now, we don’t have much time before more people get up.” Four ended the conversation and they all got their guns ready as the left the apartment. Tori wished them good luck and closed the door behind them.

Their first stop was the infirmary to get the sedative and syringe. Four knocked out the nurse on duty as soon as they spotted her and gently laid her in the closet so not to alert suspicion if someone came in. Samantha grabbed what they needed and they headed off to the lowest level where they waited in silence around the corner from the stairwell.

As soon as a male soldier came by on his way down Four grabbed him from behind and jabbed the needle into the guy’s neck before he could react. The soldier sagged against Four and Uriah helped him drag the soldier over to their hiding spot where they relieved him of his uniform and identification card.

“If I’m not back in an hour or the alarm goes off, then just get out of here, including you Tris.” He said to them but gave his girlfriend a pointed look.

Tris pursed her lips and refused to comment. He gently pulled her to him and gave her a quick kiss before heading towards the stairs. Samantha prayed that he found Eric in one piece and they made it out ok.


	36. Chapter 36

Eric’s back hurt from slumping in the chair all night and when he woke up he stretched his neck muscles out as best he could by rotating his head. The sedative that he was given must have been strong because he realized it was early morning from the amount of activity that was happening in the control room.

Yesterday when he arrived there were six technicians monitoring him and as it got later only two replaced them for the evening. There were three in the room now so Eric figured that meant soon more would arrive and the work day would begin.

He was contemplating an escape when a soldier froze outside the room and stared at him. Eric couldn’t believe what he was seeing because the guy looked like Four. It wasn’t until that soldier entered the room with a swipe of a card and walked over and began undoing his restraints that he knew it really was him. He silently urged Four to go faster before anyone noticed them. The technicians were too preoccupied with a monitor to pay them any attention and so when he was finally freed he eased his way out of the chair and followed Four out the door.

They weren’t sure how many soldiers were currently on the level or around the compound so their best chance was to sneak out before being caught. But Eric’s tall and broad frame was noticeable in his black Dauntless clothing amongst the white and blue lab coats and the blood red uniforms the super soldiers’ adapted to stand out from the rest of Dauntless.

As they passed by another room, used for research, a male technician took off his coat and hung it over his chair before entering a small storage unit in the back corner. Eric took the opportunity to quickly snatch the coat and put it on. The man was short and stocky so it fit Eric across the shoulders but the arms barely passed half of his forearms. To hide it, he crossed his arms over his chest and kept his head bent to hide his face from anyone who looked their way.

The alarm went off, the sudden loud ringing caused everyone around them to jump and look around in confusion and curiosity. Then a voice came through the PA system. “This is not a drill. Eric Coulter has escaped. The facility will lockdown immediately as we search for him so we ask you to remain where you are and if anyone spots him to notify someone without delay.” 

This wasn’t good news. They walked faster towards the exit hoping it looked like a soldier was escorting a lab technician out for safety but they were stopped by someone behind them.

“Wait up.”

Four and Eric hesitated. Eric was a leader therefore very recognizable by everyone in Dauntless and Four was as well because of his fear record and being an instructor. Eric knew the best chance they had to get out was to use the element of surprise and so instead of slowly turning to address the person behind him, he quickly spun around and hit the guy.

Eric was surprised when the soldier rocked back on his feet before catching himself because as rumor had it this soldier should be able to take anything Eric dished out. They continued to fight as he heard sounds indicating that Four was engaged with an opponent as well. The few glimpses he got told him that Four was having a hard time trying to get a hit in. Not long after the fight started Eric dispatched the man he was fighting with and helped Four take his man down. What felt like minutes must have been only seconds because no one else seemed to be coming after them yet and so they dashed to the door and exited with the card Four had stolen.

The sound of the alarm abruptly cut off as the door closed. Clearly they didn’t want the rest of Dauntless to know what was going on down there. The girls and Uriah were gone much to Four’s relief. With only the two of them they made their way inconspicuously towards the main entrance of the compound. The red uniform and lab coat helped hide the fact that they didn’t belong if they were noticed on the cameras and slipped out without any conflict.

Once they reached a safe distance, Four turned to Eric. “What happened in there? How did you take down two of them on your own?”

“I’m not sure. I was expecting it to be a lot harder than it was. The serum Jeanine gave me must be kicking in already, but they told me it took a couple of days to take full effect and it’s only been one.” Eric paced back and forth.

“You’ve been injected with the serum? We expected you to be tortured for information or lying at the bottom of the chasm, not used as a pawn in her army.” Four said.

“Not just any pawn, her General. Her army is weak without a leader to tell them what to do to attain the large goal she installs in them. If you can keep me away from her then she will need more time to find someone else to take my place and hopefully we can use that time to find a way to stop them altogether.”

Eric rubbed his forehead in thought before continuing. “It’s also worse than we thought. She does plan on using this army to stop us but she’s also expecting the outside world to show up at our door looking for a fight and she plans on stopping them too.”

“How does she know that?” Four asked skeptical.

“It was in the video she stole.” He said and proceeded to tell Four exactly what Jeanine had told him the day before while feeding him dinner.

“We need to send someone outside the gate and notify who we need to so we can stop that from happening.” Four declared.

“Send Samantha, she’s good at surviving out there and the farther she is from me the better. I don’t want her around when Jeanine takes over my mind and I’m forced to hurt anyone.”

Four nodded in thought. “Did you find anything that could help us stop them?”

“Nothing concrete but I did get an idea when Jeanine was comparing the Divergent to a virus. Maybe all we need to do is make a virus that will counteract the serum, expose her soldiers and hopefully they will lose their abilities. Even if it doesn’t stop her mind control at least it will be easier to stop regular people rather than super soldiers.” Eric explained.

“Sounds like a decent idea. We’ll run it by Cara and see what she thinks, but first we better get you to a secure location before anything else happens.” Four said and Eric nodded in agreement before they set off.


	37. Chapter 37

When the alarm sounded in the one way ear piece Tris had to stay in contact with Four, Uriah went to leave but Samantha and Tris both hesitated, watching the stairs with urgency. Neither one of them wanted to leave their man behind and had to be dragged away by Uriah, who had difficulty pulling both girls with him.

“Snap out of it! We need to get out of here now or we won’t be able to help them later!” He whispered harshly to them.

“What if Eric’s too hurt to fight and Four needs the backup?” Sam asked, unsure if they should leave.

“Those two are the best Dauntless has, they could fight missing one arm. They will be fine, they will find a way out and we need to be ready for when they do.” He replied.

Tris who must have finally agreed with him, stopped struggling and said to Samantha, “He’s right. If anyone has a chance against those soldiers, it’s them. Four told us to get out if the alarm went off and so that’s what we’ll do.”

They managed to backtrack the path Four lead them there with to the entrance with the net. Samantha stared at the large hole, high above them and shook her head. “How are we supposed to get up there?”

Uriah who was rummaging through stuff along the wall came over with a coiled up rope. “With this.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. 

Samantha’s stomach dropped. “That’s worse than jumping.”

“What do you mean?! We just throw this end with the hook up there until it catches something and then we climb it to the top. How is that worse?” Uriah asked indignantly.

“Umm, I don’t know, maybe the fact that our weight could unhook the rope and we fall to our deaths, seeing as we don’t know for sure that it will be secure up there.” Samantha ranted.

“There’s no other choice, Sam. We need to take the risk.” Tris said calmly.

Samantha lost count the amount of times Uriah threw the hook up, just to fall back down again until finally it stuck. To what, she had no idea and prayed it would stay. Uriah went first, after pulling on it a few times to see if it moved, and Tris forced Samantha to follow him. Her upper body strength wasn’t too much of an issue since she was used to hard work in the fields, but the height bothered her. She had more time to contemplate her fall and grisly death if the rope fell or her hands slipped, because climbing up took longer than it did to jump down.

The knots they tied really helped to get a good hold for her hands and her feet as she climbed her way up. Thankfully they gave her something to concentrate on as well. Eventually they made it to the top and Samantha laid there panting, glad to be back on solid ground, even if it was the roof.

Tris touched her ear piece in relief when someone started talking through it. She smiled and told them, “Eric and Four got out.” But her smile faded as the conversation continued. “Eric’s been injected. He’s already showing signs of the enhanced abilities, which was how they fought their way out. Four’s taking him to an old jail, in hopes the cells there can keep him in if Jeanine takes over. Eric thinks he has another day before that happens.” She repeated what Four told her through the one way connection.

“Ok, let’s go.” Samantha was in a hurry to see Eric and make sure he was ok with her own eyes, but Tris shook her head.

“First we need to pick up Cara, sounds like they have a theory to stop the serum. We don’t have much time so we better hurry.” She said and they made their way back down the rickety fire escape and through the city to the Divergent headquarters.


	38. Chapter 38

When Tris, Uriah, Samantha and Cara showed up at the jail Four took him to, Eric’s stress increased. The amount of people around him, especially Samantha’s presence, increased the amount of quilt he would feel if he ended up hurting them.

Presently he was locked behind bars in one of the few cells in the building and he had tested them out with his new strength to see if they would be able to hold him. They were pretty sturdy for their age.

As soon as she saw him, Samantha ran up to his cell and said to him as she clung to the bars, “What happened to your face!? I’ll kill her.”

He remained seated on the old bench against the far wall, not wanting to risk anything, and tried to calm her down. “This isn’t from Jeanine. We had to make it look like I really was held captive and this is how we did it, though it was pointless. She knew everything before we even asked to make the trade.” He explained.

“What do you mean?” Tris asked him.

“When I got there, she confessed to knowing basically everything, from where the Divergent were hiding, to Christina being your spy, and to me following Samantha out the gate and going to you afterward.”

“She knew about Christina and just let her leak information?” She said, confused.

“Information that was false. She led you to believe she was looking for you outside the gate so you wouldn’t try to attack her while she perfected her serum and built her army. Not to mention that her army has a bigger purpose than just killing you. She’s expecting the U.S. Army to come in soon to take over and she plans to stop them.” Eric said.

“Which means we need to stop them before they come here, Samantha we need you to alert the proper authorities and stop them from starting a war with Chicago while we stop Jeanine.” Four said.

Samantha looked shocked and confused. “By myself?”

“Yes. You survived for weeks outside the gate on your own, I’m confident that you can handle this too.” He replied.

“What about Eric? Are you just going to keep him locked up forever?” She asked him, angry.

“I’ve got a theory that hopefully Cara can verify. I think if we can create a virus that counteracts the serum then we can stop her army.” Eric said.

“If we do that then we’ll need a sample of the serum.” Cara said.

“Already have it.” Eric said with a sarcastic smile.

“Where?” She asked him.

“It’s in Eric. He was injected before we broke him out. But we’ll have to get the sample quick before it takes full effect and Eric can no longer control himself. Do you have the equipment I mentioned to Tris to ask you to bring?” Four asked Cara.

She nodded and pulled out a tiny needle, plastic tubing and a test tube out of the bag that was hung across her body. Four opened the cell for her to enter and when Samantha went to follow, Eric shook his head.

“Don’t come in Sunshine. I could lose control at any time and I don’t want you anywhere near me.”

She stopped her approach and waited outside the door after it was closed behind Cara and Four. Cara instructed him to lie down and so he got comfortable on the hard bench and closed his eyes. He hated needles, which was funny considering all the tattoos he had but they were part of Dauntless and he endured them.

Cara wrapped an elastic band around his bicep after finding a suitable vein to take the sample from and wiped alcohol over the spot. She told him to clench his fist and then relax once the needle was in. It only took about five seconds and it was over. She quickly took everything out and stuck a cotton swab and tape over the puncture. Four ushered her out soon after and locked the cell.

“I’ll take this back to headquarters and analyze it. See what I can come up with for a virus.” She said putting everything back into her bag.

Eric figured, if Jeanine knew everything anyway then there was no point in changing hideouts, an idea that must have occurred to the others as well since they had apparently stayed where they were.

The others were ready to leave but Samantha stayed behind. “Do you guys mind waiting while I have a minute with Eric?”

Four looked between them with a solemn face and nodded. They exited the doors that separated the cells from the lobby and Samantha turned to Eric.

“Eric, I know you’re afraid of hurting me and I understand but I’m willing to take the risk. Please come closer.” She pleaded gently.

He desperately wanted her comfort and he gave in to it. He got up and walked over to her reaching hand and let her caress his face. It was still sore from the beating but her touch was gentle and he closed his eyes, revelling in her touch.

“I wish you could go with me on my mission. I don’t know if I can do it without you.” She whispered.

“That’s nonsense and you know it. You just don’t want to leave me here alone, but you have to. I’m a risk now and until Cara comes up with that virus, I’m staying right here.” He said.

He could tell she was annoyed by the look on her face but her Amity upbringing was waging a war in her mind on whether or not she wanted to let it go or fight him. She chose to let it go.

“I’m sorry Sunshine. I never meant for this to happen.” He apologized.

“I know. I just wish life didn’t play out this way for us. We should have just moved to that small town and you could have become my real boyfriend and left all this behind us.”

He smiled wistfully. “I wish we did too. But duty called us and that is who we are.”

“What are you talking about, I never became a full Dauntless member.”

“You don’t need to be Dauntless to have Dauntless qualities and you’re full of them, as well as a ton of Amity ones too.” He chuckled and Samantha smiled back.

“I’ll be back as soon as I can and they’ll get you better, then we can finish this together.” She said and pulled him down for a kiss.

Her soft lips met his gently and were about to disappear so he grabbed her through the bars and pulled her as close as he could without hurting her and deepened the kiss. He didn’t know when or if he would see her again and he wanted this last one to last just in case.

When he let her go she smiled at him sadly and left to join the others with a last glance back before exiting through the doors. All his pent up anger surfaced and he punched the cement wall hard. With his extra strength, he left a dent and didn’t break his hand but it hurt. He sat down onto the bench with a thud and cradled his injured hand. Life wasn’t fair.


	39. Chapter 39

Samantha numbly gathered supplies for her trip, her mind far away. How was she going to get close enough to someone important and where would she find someone important enough to tell about their situation?

From the text books she had read while outside the gate, she knew the President lived in Washington D.C. and that was a long way away from them. She didn’t have enough money to catch a flight, so her best chance was to walk back to the town and find someone to give her a lift to a bigger city and catch a bus from there. She planned to sell everything of worth from her house outside the gate to hopefully get enough to pay for a ticket.

Deciding that was her plan she grabbed an extra pair of clothes and stuffed them into the large duffle bag she was given by Uriah with the few bags of beef jerky and potato chips she packed to hold her over until she got to Washington. She swung the half full bag over her shoulder and left her and Eric’s room to meet with Four and Tris in the lobby.

It was noon and despite the sun at its’ highest peak the cooler wind gave the air a chilly feel. Snow fell slowly and sparingly around them once they left the protection of the building and Samantha flipped the collar of her coat up. They would catch the train a few blocks away and ride it to the gate, their plan then was for Four and Tris to distract the guards while Samantha slipped out.

The ride was a silent one and as the gate appeared they jumped off the slowing train. Samantha took a curved path to the gate as the others cut straight across so they would be spotted far enough away that they could draw the guards toward them and still out run them if need be.

That was exactly what happened. As Samantha got closer to the entrance, the two guards saw her companions and shouted at them. When they didn’t respond the men cautiously inched away from their positions, guns at the ready, to get a better look at them. When they realized who they were dealing with they engaged and left the gate completely unattended so Samantha rushed over and punched in the code Four had from when he was still part of Dauntless.

They weren’t sure if they had been changed since their departure but they had hoped since Jeanine knew they never left the city that she felt the codes were still good and kept them in place.

Samantha let out a breath of relief when the green light blinked and she eased her body through the small gap she gave herself when she opened the door. Closing the door behind her, she got a glimpse of Four and Tris running toward the returning train and hoped they made it back safely.

The ground on this side was covered in a thin layer of snow, that would pose a problem if someone came looking for her, so she headed for the Amity compound hoping it would look like her foot prints belonged to an Amity member coming back from the city. From there she snuck to the green houses where most of the crops would be grown during the winter months. The fields beyond them were barren from the fall harvest and frosted over.

Samantha huddled in a corner, hoping not to be noticed, and waited for the sun to go down. It didn’t take long, she waited for an hour and headed out past the guards on the outskirts of the Amity fields and continued on to her house.

The house stood empty and cold against the dark starry night, the moon providing the only light for her to see by. Floor boards creaked every once in a while as she crossed the living room and kitchen area where she kept all her things and she settled into her old bed that laid on the floor. She needed to rest and warm up before going the rest of the way.

In the morning whatever she could get money for she stuffed into her duffle bag and headed out again. The two hour walk grew into three because of the cold. Samantha’s fingers and feet felt numb and she stumbled along, wishing fervently that the town was only one step away.

At some point on her journey she must have passed out because she woke up in a strange room with pink colored walls and posters of guys taped randomly around them. The bed she was on was cozy but she forced herself out to investigate her location.

Slowly, she opened the door an inch and looked out but the hall was clear. Samantha could hear a voice softly talking in another room down the hall and she walked towards it. She had refused the gun Four offered her, thinking it might scare off people and took the small knife that was tucked in the waistband of her pants behind her back instead.

She didn’t take it out but knowing it was there made her feel better in case anything happened. The home probably belonged to someone who found her and simply wanted to help, she didn’t want to scare them as thanks but she remained ready. As she neared the end of the hall a girl around her age rounded the corner and nearly bumped into her.

The girl smiled and said, “Hey, you’re awake. I’m Kathy, my mom said your name is Samantha.” Kathy introduced herself.

“Yeah.” Samantha replied curious. “Who’s your mom?”

“Oh, she’s the librarian. She said you spent a bunch of time there while you were working on your school project.”

“Tanis! Yeah, I haven’t been in town since I finished that project. Is she around?” Samantha lied but happy to know someone she knew picked her up.

“No, she’s gone to get dinner. I just got off the phone with her; she wanted to know if you woke up yet. Here, come and sit down while we wait for her. I’m starving and she’s getting pizza.”

Kathy ushered Samantha into a brightly lit room with a large white sofa facing a TV on a stand and various decorative pieces and picture frames placed on a bookshelf against the wall. The room was also decorated with a three piece picture of a beach hung above the sofa. Samantha sat down on one end and relaxed as Kathy sat on the other.

“So, how come you were out in the cold?” Kathy asked her, obviously curious but not wanting to seem pushy.

“I needed to come to town to sell a few things and I don’t have a car so I walked.”

“You walked? For how long?”

Samantha bit her lip nervously. “About three hours, it usually only takes two but the cold slowed me down.”

“Are you crazy?! Why didn’t your parents drive you?” She asked confused.

“Well, they don’t have a car either…” Samantha trailed off. She wasn’t sure how much information to give away and she wasn’t the best at lying either.

“You didn’t run away did you?” Kathy asked suspicious.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Because that’s what it sounds like. You walked for three hours in the cold because you wanted to sell something, you don’t have access to a car and you were carrying a large bag full of stuff.” Kathy deducted out loud.

“I didn’t run away, exactly. I was sent away to do something.” Samantha replied vaguely.

“Your parents sent you away?”

“No…” She wasn’t good at this and so Samantha caved, “OK, you probably won’t believe me when I tell you this but I’m from Chicago. In there I’m an adult and important people sent me out to find someone important out here. I had to walk because we don’t have many cars in the city and I didn’t want anyone to know I left. I also have to sell my stuff for money so I can buy a bus ticket to Washington D.C.”

When she finished Samantha waited for Kathy to process what she said and laugh at her, but that didn’t happen. Instead Kathy scooted closer and begged her to tell her everything about Chicago, so she did.

She told her about the factions, the test, and the Dauntless initiation she had to go through. She mentioned her friends and Eric but decided against telling her about her relationship with him and explained about the Divergent and what Erudite was doing and why she had to leave the city. It felt good to let it out to someone who wasn’t also dealing with it.

“OK, so I you’re from Amity but your test told you that you belonged in Dauntless so you switched factions, got beat up and harassed by your trainer and friends and now you’re trying to stop a war between the Divergent and Erudite and possibly the US government?” Kathy summed up at the end and Samantha nodded.

“That is so awesome!” She bounced. “I wish I could have an exciting life like yours.”

“You wouldn’t if you really did, trust me. But don’t tell anyone ok. We have to fix Chicago before anyone else comes in.”

“I promise!” Kathy crossed her heart. At that moment her mom came home.

“Hey guys. Samantha, I’m glad to see you’re ok. You scared me when I found you out there in the cold!” Tanis said as she placed the pizza down on the coffee table and hugged Samantha. “You must be hungry, I hope you like pepperoni pizza.” She said as she took off her coat and grabbed a few plates.

“Oh, uh. I’ve never had it before actually.”

“Really?” Kathy asked mirroring her mother’s puzzled expression.

“Yeah, my parents never wanted to pick it up and we live too far away for delivery.” She lied, hoping Kathy picked up on it.

Tanis handed them each a plate and a soda can. Samantha watched them open their cans and copied them; her first sip produced a large amount of bubbles that tickled her nose.

“Hey, is this a fizzy drink?! Only Erudite get these…. I mean I don’t drink too much of this and I haven’t had this kind before and I really want to thank you for dinner and for picking me up, I really appreciate it.” She said quickly, catching herself before giving away too much.

Kathy chocked on her drink from laughing and coughed a few times. Tanis not realizing the slip, but also not understanding the comment, ignored it and focused on her mention of earlier.

“How come you didn’t get a ride into town? You mentioned a while ago you usually walked, but it’s too cold out now for that. Where are your parents?”

“Oh, they’re on vacation in Washington D.C. and because I had another school project to finish before going I was supposed to get a ride to the airport near Rockford to meet them today but I lost my ticket so I was hoping to catch a bus instead.”

“Why didn’t your boyfriend give you a ride?” She asked.

“You have a boyfriend? What’s his name?” Kathy interjected before Samantha could answer.

“Eric, wasn’t it? I remember him looking like quite the bad boy, all those tattoos and piercings. Older too isn’t he?” Tanis said.

Samantha blushed. “Uh, yeah that’s him.”

“Oh my gosh, you mean, that Eric? School girl hooking up with her teacher.” Kathy said in a sing song voice.

“No, I mean he was my trainer not teacher and we weren’t involved until that was over, I swear.” Samantha pointed out.

“So where was he when you needed him?” Tanis asked before taking a bite of her pizza slice.

“He’s in the middle of a crisis back home, didn’t want to pull him away from it just to drive me.” She replied and took her first bite of pizza. It was so good and she was so hungry that she devoured it quickly and grabbed another.

They finished eating and as Tanis cleaned up their plates the girls went to Kathy’s room to set up a bed for Samantha to sleep on. It was a twin air mattress that blew up when you plugged it in and it fit nicely between Kathy’s bed and her desk. Tanis offered to give Samantha a lift to Rockford and see her onto the bus in the morning. When the bed was made, they sat down on Kathy’s and chatted.

“So, I’m dying to know why you’re dating a guy who was mean to you.” 

“It’s a long story. In short, deep down he’s not really mean he was just trying to keep up appearances because of what Dauntless required of him. But he helped me, even though I didn’t see it and when I did need him he was there.” She replied.

“Ok. What’s he like when he’s not mean?”

Samantha smiled. “He’s cocky, arrogant and totally hot. But he’s also loyal, kind in his own way and friendly when you get past all that other stuff. He wants to do what is right and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to do it, even if he doesn’t believe in the methods that are used. He’s my own personal hero who loves me.”

Kathy sighed. “He sounds dreamy, like an action hero in a movie and you’re the girl he’s protecting. I wish I had a guy like that.”

“Well you know there are a lot more guys like him in Dauntless. If I we can stop Jeanine and tell the world the truth then maybe you can meet some of them.” Samantha winked.

“Really? That would be awesome if I could.” Kathy paused, “Are you going to tell my mom that you need to sell stuff for the bus money?”

“I would prefer not to. If she thought I didn’t have it already then she would probably guess that my parents really aren’t waiting for me in D.C. and prevent me from going.”

“In that case, I want you to have this.” Kathy got up and dug around in her top drawer. She pulled out a small tin box and handed it to Samantha.

“What’s this?” She asked her new friend.

“Money, you need it more than I do. There should be enough in there for the bus ride and food.” Kathy replied as she sat back down.

“Where did you get all this money from?”

“I’ve been saving my allowance for a while, I was hoping to use it on a trip after I graduate high school.” She explained.

“Thanks, but I can’t take it.” Samantha tried to hand it back but Kathy pushed it away.

“If you can send a hunk from Dauntless my way then I’ll consider it repaid with interest.” She smirked.

Samantha laughed. “Ok, it’s a deal.”

After Kathy turned out the light both girls snuggled up in their beds and fell asleep.


	40. Chapter 40

Eric woke up in the middle of the night with the sudden urge to get back to Dauntless. He got up and pounded at the bars, hoping they would loosen with his strength. He tried for an hour and no result except for sore fists, he thought about picking the lock but he didn’t have anything useful enough to pick it with. Maybe he could chip away at the wall, he thought. He was still going at the wall when the others arrived in the morning.

“Eric, what are you doing?” Four shouted to be heard against the thudding of his hands against the hard cement that dented with each punch.

Eric’s hands were bleeding but he didn’t pay attention to the pain. Four’s voice took his attention away from the wall and the urge to kill him was even stronger. He lunged for the bars and tried to grab Four through them but Four ducked out of the way too quickly for Eric to get a hold on him. Eric growled in frustration. They backed up away from the cell.

“Jeanine’s got him. Do you think the cell will hold him?” Cara asked Four, scared.

“Not for long, we better hurry with that virus.” He replied.

“I don’t think I can inject him with it if he’s trying to kill us and he’s too strong for us to hold him down either. That’s also a problem if we plan to stop an army like him too. I think I have to go back and come up with a better way to release it, maybe as vapour he can breathe in.” She replied, still staring at Eric as he paced back and forth with a look of pure hatred on his face.

“Is a vapour possible?” Tris asked her.

“Yes, if I can alter the code correctly. It might take a while though.”

“Tris, take her back and get working on that virus. I’ll stay here and watch him, maybe send Uriah over to help me out.” Four ordered. Tris nodded and the girls left quickly.

Four brought a chair in from the lobby and sat down.

“This cell won’t keep me in, you know. I’m too strong and when I get out I’m going to snap your neck and then your girlfriend’s.” Eric taunted, but Four ignored him.

“Jeanine’s plan is too good for you to stop it and when you’re all dead, we’ll be in charge of the city and it will be peaceful again.” Eric went on pretending that Four had engaged him and this time he did.

“What about Samantha? Are you going to kill her too?”

“Samantha? She’s not Divergent, if she comes back and promises to play by our rules then she’s safe.” He replied with no feeling, like he forgot that he cared about her.

The longer he kept Eric talking instead of beating the wall the longer the cell would hold, Four realized. “Did Jeanine take all your emotions too?”

“Of course she did and then she installed what she wants me to feel, anger and hatred. It makes me want to kill you.” Eric sneered through the bars.

“What happens when we’re dead and Jeanine gets what she wants? She won’t just give you back your emotions, she can’t. If she were to let you be normal again your guilt would make you want to stop her too. You’ll end up an empty shell of a person when this is all done, a slave to what she wants for the rest of your life.”

“She will program new emotions for me.” Eric said unfazed by what Four said.

“You won’t love Sam anymore.” Four interjected.

“I’m fine with that. I’ll love someone else instead. There’s plenty of fish in the sea.”

Four frowned at his response. Obviously there will be no negotiating with him through emotions. He was going to try reasoning with logic when Uriah arrived and Eric decided he didn’t want to talk anymore. He proceeded to beat the wall and ignored any conversation directed at him.


	41. Chapter 41

After the hour long drive to Rockford, Samantha made her way to the bus station ticket booth with Tanis. Earlier in the morning she had said her farewell to Kathy once they finished a pancake breakfast and promised to bring her a date when she saw her again before leaving and now facing the round, greying man in the booth she asked for a ticket to Washington D.C.

He typed something into his computer and said, “Next bus is in 30 minutes. I’ll need $180 and some I.D. please.”

Samantha freaked out inside, but outside she pretended to look in her bag for her I.D. “Oh, shit. I think I forgot my I.D. Is there any way I can get on without it?” She asked as sweetly as she could, but the old man wasn’t having any of it.

“Sorry, kid. No I.D., no bus ticket.”

Tanis overhearing, stepped in. “Oh, I almost forgot! Here hunny, I’ve got your I.D. right here.” She took a small plastic card out of her wallet and handed it to Samantha.

She took a quick glance at it before handing it to the man with her money. It was Kathy’s, but she could pass for the girl as they were the same age and had the same hair. It also helped that Kathy was wearing glasses in the photo which she could also account for the difference in appearance if someone asked.

Satisfied he passed her back the I.D., and printed out a ticket, and gave that to her as well. Samantha and Tanis sat down in two of the chairs that lined the wall of the station, and waited for the bus.

“Thanks so much for helping me out back there. Here, Kathy will probably want this back.” She said, handing the card back.

Tanis waved it away. “No, you can keep it. You will need it in Washington if you need to book a hotel or come back. We’ll get Kathy a new one later.”

They sat in silence for a few seconds and Samantha wondered why Tanis had Kathy’s I.D. in the first place, so she asked.

“Kathy gave it to me this morning while you were showering. Said you would need it and when I asked her why she told me the truth, about you being from Chicago.”

“Oh… I hope you didn’t get mad at her for lying because she didn’t.” Samantha said sheepishly.

“I believed her and I believe you. It makes sense and I hope you get everything sorted out.” Tanis gave her an empathetic smile and side hugged her.

The bus arrived exactly when the man at the ticket booth said it would. As they waited at the back of the line to get on, a man took her duffle bag and stored it in one of the compartments on the bottom of the bus with the other riders’ as the bus driver took their tickets. Tanis took this opportunity to say good-bye.

“It was really great meeting you Samantha and I wish I could have heard the whole story, but I look forward to you coming back and letting me know what happened, ok? Good luck.”

“I will and thanks again for everything!” She hugged her friend, then passed her ticket to the driver and waved to Tanis as she got on.

Not many passengers were on the bus so most got a seat to themselves unless they had a travelling partner. Samantha took the window seat at the very back. She had travelled on a truck before while she was still in Amity but the seat was hard and worn compared to the soft one she had now. The window she gazed out of was tinted and she was amazed at all the things she saw as they zipped by.

They passed farms with horses and cows or vast fields of crops, now covered with snow, when they weren’t travelling through a city or town and when they were she couldn’t believe the amount of cars there were or how untouched the buildings looked. All around her there were signs of life untouched by a supposed war.

The ride took 20 hours to D.C., and as the bus drove into the bus station the next morning, Samantha itched to get off the bus. When the driver opened the door, she rushed out after the passengers got off and sucked in a breath of fresh air, and coughed. The air here was polluted with exhaust compared to the carless Chicago and it made her miss home. The sooner she finished her mission, the sooner she could go back.

She heaved her heavy duffle bag over her shoulder and made her way to the nearest information desk. The woman behind it had her dark hair tightly done in a bun at the back of her neck and her make-up was as classy as her black blazer. The tag on her blazer said Joan.

Samantha smoothed the wrinkled white T-shirt she wore under her coat and approached the desk. With her best smile she said, “Hi. I’m trying to get to the White House. Do you have directions?”

Joan’s appearance was friendlier than her demeanour. “The metro station is downstairs on the west side of the building. Follow the signs to get there.” She answered without looking up from the computer she typed on.

“What is the metro?” Samantha asked confused.

Joan finally looked at her, her appraisal of Sam’s disheveled appearance made her uncomfortable. “Not from around here are you?”

Samantha shook her head. Joan sighed, “The metro is what we call our public train system. Follow the signs to get to the station downstairs and you will take the red line towards Shady Grove and get off at Farragut North Metro Station. It will be a short walk from there to the White House. Ok?”

Samantha nodded and thanked her before heading off in the direction of the train station. She found it easily, thanks to the signs, and found herself in a long underground room where many other people waited on the platform for their ride. Many where dressed nicely in outfits similar to the ones that Erudite and Candor wore and carried square bags in their hands, while others looked more casual in their jeans and sweaters.

She watched as people waved cards in front of a screen and then went through three metal bars that rotated as they passed and locked until the next person did the same. She didn’t know where she could get a card like theirs until she saw a sign over a machine that had a line up for it.

When it was her turn to use the machine, she copied what she saw the others before her do, and picked her destination, and put the money in that it asked her to. A card slipped out of the slot and her change banged its’ way into the silver bowl at the bottom of the machine. She grabbed both and made her way back to the gates.

She was surprised when the train stopped at the platform and let people get on and off without running after it. She squeezed her way through the crowd inside and found a spot where she could stand and hold onto a bar for support as the doors closed and the train began moving at a speed much faster than the train back in Chicago.

It didn’t take long for the train to reach the Farragut North Metro Station and she got off with a large number of passengers dressed in suits. She followed them up a set of stairs that lead out to the street level and she recognized the building she was looking for down the street. It was larger than it looked in the picture in the text book she had read, but the picture was from a century ago and she guessed there were additions put on since then.

The cool wind bit into her as she walked toward her destination, and she wished she had a hat like everyone around her did. Hugging her bag to her chest for warmth, she trudged on.

The gate loomed closer, so she jogged the rest of the way and was stopped by the man standing on the other side.

“You can’t come in here.” He said, holding his hand up to stop her.

“Why not? Isn’t it open to the public?” She asked.

“No. You have to be authorized to come in by appointment or have a position within the White House.” He replied.

“I have to talk to the President. Tell him it’s about Chicago and see if he’ll see me.” Samantha hoped they listened to her and that the President thought she was worth his time.

The man said something into a walkie talkie and waited as he stared her down. Samantha shifted under his gaze and nearly jumped when a loud static sound came out of the device. He held up to his ear and frowned at her, then put it back and opened the gate.

“They said to bring you in, but I need to check you for weapons first.” He took her bag and handed it to the other guy with him to look through it as he patted her down with his hands.

She remembered the knife she hid in the waist of her pants when he slid his hands up her legs and said, “I should probably mention that I have a knife, it’s for protection not to attack people with. You can have it.”

He stood up and motioned for her to hand it over with an annoyed look on his face. When she gave it to him, he continued his search and when he found nothing else he straightened out and asked his partner if her bag had anything. Apparently not, because he ushered her though the gate and towards the building, with him hot on her heels.

Samantha was astonished at the level of detail and ornamentation that was inside once she set foot through the front door. She was used to the natural beauty of Amity, the grittiness of Dauntless and the sparseness of the Divergent compounds, but this was grand in comparison.

Samantha wasn’t given much time to look around as her guide pushed her forward. He led her to an elevator and down a corridor, once they got off, to a set of double doors at the end. Two men stood outside it and her escort spoke with them in hushed voices. They opened the door and she walked through.


	42. Chapter 42

Two days later, Eric lay on the worn out cot in his jail cell, woozy from the tranquilizer he was shot with hours ago.

The wall had a big enough hole in it for Eric to stick his head through and that was a cause for concern for Four and Uriah, whom decided to knock him out before he could finish his escape. He then stumbled backward until he bumped into the bed and that is where he had stayed for the next couple of hours.

He was still out of it when the girls came back with their new and improved serum. Four stood at their arrival and Eric could hear their conversation through the haze that clouded his mind.

“Is it ready?” Four asked impatient.

“It should be, but we also come back with news. Sam returned last night with a group of strange men. They said they were sent by the president to help stop the threat within the city before it spills to the outside world.” Tris replied, her hand resting on his upper arm casually.

“How did they get in without drawing the Dauntless guards’ attention?” He asked her, interested in the newcomers.

“Not sure. But Sam’s gotten in and out multiple times; she probably helped them. All I know is that in the middle of the night Sam was pounding on our door with a crowd of men in black behind her and an arsenal of weapons.” She said.

“How is he?” Cara interrupted before they could discuss the new arrivals further. 

Four looked back at the form unmoving from its position on the bed. “We had to tranquilize him a while ago to stop him from getting out and he hasn’t moved since.” He explained to the girls.

It’s too bad we didn’t think if that earlier instead of wasting time vaporizing this serum.” Cara said, placing her bag down on the chair Four vacated and rummaged through it for her things.

“We can’t rely on tranquilizing all of the soldiers. We would only have so many bullets and people tend to miss.” Four dismissed the idea and watched her pull out a canister.

“Guess we better test this puppy out before using it in real life.” She said, going for the pin.

Tris stopped her hand. “Should we be in here when it goes off?” She asked the Erudite girl.

“It’s ok. It won’t affect anyone unless they have the serum Jeanine made inside them.” Cara explained. Then she pulled the pin and rolled it between the bars of Eric’s cell.

Nothing happened for the first few seconds but then a cloud escaped out of the can and quickly fogged up the entire room. Eric’s four captors covered their mouths and watched as he began to cough. Eventually the smoke alleviated the tranquilizer from his body and Jeanine’s hold on him.

Ten minutes later when the room cleared, Eric was standing by his cell door, waiting for them to let him out.

“How do you feel, Eric?” Cara asked him.

“My hands are killing me, but otherwise, fine.” He replied.

“Do you still want to kill us?” Tris asked and Eric shook his head.

“How do we know he isn’t tricking us into letting him out?” Uriah whispered to Four.

Overhearing, Eric replied, “Guess you’ll just have to trust me. Where’s Sunshine? Did she make it back safely?”

Four’s postured eased. “He’s ok. He wouldn’t ask about Sam if he still didn’t care about her.” He said to his group before letting Eric out.

“Sam’s back, safe and sound. She had to stay behind to help her new friends get situated, but she’s eager to see you.” Tris answered.

“Before we go, we need to know if you still have your enhanced abilities.” Cara said. “Try making the hole in the wall bigger.”

Eric looked at her like she was crazy. “Do you know how much that will hurt if they’re gone?”

“Don’t be a sissy. I can fix you up back at headquarters if you get hurt.” Cara challenged him.

With an annoyed look, Eric went over to the wall and hit it a hard as he could. When pain filled him, as his knuckles crunched against the cement, he let out a string of curses and clutched his hand to his chest.

“Great! I declare that Eric’s back to his normal self. Now let’s get out of this dump.” Cara said and heaved her bag back up over her shoulder and marched out as the doors smacked back into place behind her.

The rest followed behind, Eric cringing as pain shot up through his arm the whole way, and the other three quietly discussing something he couldn’t hear.

They reached their base of operation without difficulty and Eric made a beeline for Samantha who stood around a table with a group of men he hadn’t seen before, his pain completely forgotten.

She glanced up to see who had come in and seeing him she gave him a large smile and rushed into his open arms. Eric lifted her up and kissed her deeply. Then setting her down, with his good hand he brushed the hair out of her eyes and cupped her cheek.

“I’m so glad you made it back okay.” He said, gazing into her eyes.

“It wasn’t so bad, I had some help. Tris told me what happened to you while I was gone. I’m thankful that they brought you back to me; I like the beard you’ve got going on too.” She smiled and brushed his furry jaw.

He grinned and touched his own face. “Yeah, being locked up a few days in a cell will do that. I need to shower badly.” 

“Okay, I’ll still be here when you get back and I’ll introduce you to our new friends.” She motioned to the guys who were already talking to Four and Tris.

He gave her one more kiss before leaving for their shared room where he hoped to finally share some alone time with her, grabbed his toiletries and got cleaned up. Then he found Cara and had her fix up his hand.


	43. Chapter 43

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter has sex in it and I originally wrote it for Fanfiction . net and they don't really allow a lot of that so it's not terribly explicit, in case you're disappointed with it.

Eric’s arrival overjoyed Samantha and she had a bounce to her step as she joined the group of soldiers again. They were discussing strategic plans to get into Erudite to stop Jeanine and the soldiers’ command to kill; they also wanted to have the least amount of casualties as possible. But another group would also go into Dauntless and release the canister of serum that Cara had made to cure those soldiers if the first group failed.

Eventually Eric made an appearance, clean shaven and new clothes; he stood beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Samantha leaned into his warmth and listened to the plan.

Four and Tris would be going with the group into Dauntless, because they knew the layout and even though Eric knew the layout as well, he also knew the layout of Erudite and where to find Jeanine, so he was in the second group heading to Erudite. Not wanting to be separated again, Eric insisted Samantha go with him.

The rest of the Divergent and factionless who could fight were split up between the two groups, and after the plan was perfected, and everyone knew their positions, they took the afternoon to rest.

Eric and Samantha walked as casually as they could to their room, but once the door was closed Eric hungrily kissed her and pushed her up against the wall. Samantha wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled her top off when they broke for air. His lustful gaze at her heaving chest was all she needed to pull him in for another kiss as she fumbled with his belt.

“Wait.” Eric stopped and placed both arms beside her head. “I was hoping to do this a little more romantically, since it’s your first time.”

Samantha smiled wickedly. “Who said I was a virgin?”

Confused, Eric said, “But you said no one’s seen you naked before me.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to have sex with your clothes off. Don’t worry about it. We’ll have plenty of time to be romantic after. Right now I want you, right here.” She said.

Eric rested his forehead against hers and said, “I love you Sam.”

“I know.” She whispered back and kissed him softly. “And I love you.”

His heart swelled and he grinned. They both rid themselves of their garments quickly and he lifted her up again, and joined himself to her. It was deep and fast, both breathing heavily as they moaned into each other’s mouths. When they finished they slid to the floor and cuddled. Interlacing their fingers, they caught their breath in comfortable silence.

“So, who popped your cherry before I got the chance to?” Eric joked, breaking the silence a few minutes later.

Samantha lightly smacked his leg. “It’s none of your business.”

“Come on, I want to know what I’m up against as a lover.” He said.

“Fine, it was a dare our friends made us do. Tom and I were both so nervous that we kept our clothes on and did it as fast as we could.” She said shyly.

“So, I was better.” He stated.

“Infinitely, why do you care? I imagine you’ve had many girls before me.” Samantha said without jealousy.

“I have, but I wasn’t in love with any of them.” He replied.

“Good, I want a guy who knows what he’s doing anyway.” She smiled at him.

Eric pulled her onto his lap and smiled wickedly. “That I do.”

Samantha enjoyed the feel of his soft lips kissing her neck while his large hands roamed her body. He touched places that brought goose bumps to her flesh and made her belly tingle.

When she couldn’t take it anymore, he finally lifted her on top of his member and her instincts took over. Her pace was slow at first until the pleasure between her legs built up that she couldn’t wait any longer. Eric clung to her in his own oncoming climax and together they found release in each other’s arms.

Samantha slumped against his chest in exhaustion and happiness, and Eric wrapped his arms around her smaller body. Like that they fell asleep for a short while before needing to get ready for their mission with the others, and when they awoke they shared a shower.

She insisted on helping him wash and she lathered his back with the bar of soap, massaging his muscles as she went before slipping her arms around to his chest. Her breasts pressed up against him as she scrubbed his chest, slowly moving down his abdomen. Eric moaned when she went lower still and caressed him there.

“As much as I would love to let you continue we don’t have time.” He said between moans, without actually stopping her. His hips gently rocked with her strokes and he used his lands to lean against the shower wall in front of him.

Samantha paid no attention to what he said and continued with what she started as his thrusts quickened in her hand. She marveled at the display of his back muscles with each movement and took in his heavy breathing as she pleasured him.

She didn’t know a man could be such a turn on as he abandoned everything in the act of love. This one in particular was beautiful to look at and she wished they had time for her to feel him inside her again before leaving.

Eric made one last thrust and went rigid as his seed spilled into her hand. He gave her a deep kiss after and insisted that they finish cleaning up so they could get dressed and head out to meet the others, hand in hand.


	44. Chapter 44

The sky was clear and the stars twinkled in the moon’s absence. With no moonlight, they had to rely on their flashlights as they made their way to Erudite headquarters.

Eric remained close to Samantha as they led their team down the darkened streets. Up ahead there was light coming from the Erudite building that never turned off, against city policy, and as they neared they turned their lights off now that they could see better.

The bulletproof vest he was given to wear weighed heavily on him and hindered his movements. His initial response was to refuse it, Dauntless never worse such things, because no one ever shot back. They were the only faction with guns and it never posed a problem for their safety. But now the tables were turned and he was on the other side fighting against Dauntless, and realized he would need it.

Samantha wore one as well and he could see her dark figure trotting beside him in all black with the word S.W.A.T. across her chest, blending in with the group wearing the exact same thing. Her hair was tied up into a bun behind her head, a few strands that were too short hung loosely against her cheeks.

Inwardly he worried about her. She didn’t have much training in Dauntless and the last time she shot a gun at someone was at the war games. That was months ago, but the determined look on her face told him she wouldn’t hold back this time.

With confidence in his team, he showed them the back entrance to Erudite that hardly anyone used when he was a kid and they split up.

Earlier he had made them a map of the building and showed them the locations that were the most important. The main goal was Jeanine’s laboratory where they made the serum and her office where she most likely controlled the activation of it. His group was going to her office and the other to the lab.

Eric yearned to see Jeanine’s face when she realized that he was not under her thumb anymore, and he wanted to see her eyes go empty as he took her life. He knew she would be there ready to press the button, because the group headed for Dauntless was supposed to be seen, with Four and Tris at the helm, to distract her from their true goal.

As expected, the stairwells were empty. Erudite were too lazy to waste precious time that could be spent learning, to take them and favoured the elevators instead. The sounds of feet pounding upwards echoed through the passage, but brought no prying eyes since it was late.

When they reached the right level Eric peeked through the small window in the door and he saw four regular Dauntless guards standing outside Jeanine’s office door. His half of the group consisted of Samantha and two others, one of them was the man in charge of the outsiders by the name of Carson. He was a burly man with a gruff nature, and thought of them as an inferior task force with inferior skill when he saw their weapons, but Eric knew their technology far succeeded his, when his eyes widened at their description of what they were fighting against.

As soon as Eric opened the door, the men turned their heads in their direction. He didn’t waste time and ran at them before they could register that they were intruders. He hit the first one with the butt of his gun in the face, knocking him out, and engaged the second as his group caught up and handled the others.

Suddenly the alarm sounded and a red light began flashing. Eric cursed and hoped the others got caught after they took out the lab. Now Jeanine would be on the alert and would most likely have activated her soldiers.

He hoped Four and Tris could handle them on their own as more soldiers trickled in from another hallway connecting to theirs and gun shots pierced the air.

Samantha braced herself against the wall and shot the first and second soldier as they rounded the corner until they stopped coming and began shooting in return behind the wall.

Eric knocked out this second opponent and grabbed Samantha’s arm to pull her into the office with him. He didn’t want to leave her out there while bullets were flying.

The room was empty, except for the sounds of guns going off behind the door they had just entered as the others stayed behind to hold them off. Eric looked around and saw the light that lightly shown through the space between the floor and the door to Jeanine’s personal lab.

He went to it and tried the knob. It was locked, so he rammed his shoulder against it a few times. When it didn’t budge, he kicked at it until Samantha moved him aside and shot the lock enough that it fell off and the door swung open. She smirked and pushed him in.

Inside the computer binged as a sign on the screen blinked “Activated”. There was no sign of Jeanine. Eric was sure she would be there and there were no exits out of the room save for the one they came in. He was certain she wouldn’t have been suspicious of them until the alarm sounded, and he was going to tell Samantha that when he heard an inhale.

He turned to find Samantha wrapped in Jeanine’s arms with a gun to her head, the door behind them swinging closed.

“How did you stop the serum, Eric? You should be doing what I say right now.” She said her face cheek to cheek with Samantha’s.

“The Divergent broke me out and fixed me.” He replied, coolly.

“You disappoint me, Eric. I thought you were best out of everyone and the Divergent still beat you, all because of this little whore.” She jerked Samantha back.

“You’re wrong. Four has always been better than me, during initiation and now. Four stopping me has nothing to do with her.” He said, slowly inching closer to them.

“That may be true, but the old Eric would have done everything he could to beat Four before she came along. Now you do everything she says instead of me. Maybe if I kill her you will come back to me, should we see?” She pressed the gun harder into Samantha’s temple.

“He’ll never be yours again.” Samantha spat before head butting her.

Jeanine stumbled backwards and pulled the trigger blindly. Samantha punched her in the nose, snapping her head back from the force and snatched the gun from her grasp.

Eric stormed up to Jeanine and shot her in the heart. She slumped against the wall and slid down, blood gurgling out of her mouth, and her eyes glazing over.

As the anger and adrenaline released its’ hold on him he pulled Samantha hard against his chest and hugged her.

“The computer, we need to deactivate the serum.” She said from his hold.

The computer mentioned was blank with a bullet hole through the top left corner. There was no way for them to deactivate the serum this way now. They would have to rely on Cara’s new one to stop them, which meant they had better get to Dauntless to help, and fast.

The door to the office opened and Carson shouted, “We gotta get out of here, Jason’s down and I’m almost out of ammo.” He ducked as a bullet just missed his head and shattered the glass in the window.

Eric took Samantha’s hand and tugged her along with him as they ran out of the office and into the stairwell with Carson not far behind. They pounded down the stairs with only two guards left to chase after them and somewhere on the way down Carson managed to take them down as well before they burst through the exit into the cold night air.

“What happened in there? Were you successful?” He asked Eric.

“We got Jeanine, but she shot the computer before we could stop the serum. We have to get to Dauntless to help the others take them down.” He replied with urgency.

Carson spoke into his walkie talkie to communicate with the other half of their force to ask them how their mission went and to notify them of the new situation. From what Eric could hear, they managed to smash all the vials and equipment used to make the serum with minimal casualties and was headed out of the building. They met up quickly with them and made a mad dash for the Dauntless headquarters.


	45. Chapter 45

As they approached the Dauntless compound, they could hear the rat-a-tat-tat of gun fire.

Eric signaled to Carson to take the left as they entered the unguarded entrance and his team took the right, serum canisters at the ready.

They couldn’t be sure if Four and Tris’s team had been able to release theirs or not, therefore they had to be ready to release their own if they came across the super soldiers. After that, they would be fighting against regular Dauntless.

Even the Dauntless that had no idea about the soldiers would be attacking them, assuming that the Divergent were just getting back at them for the war on Abnegation.

As far as Samantha knew, Eric was going to capture Max and force him at gun point to tell the truth over the P.A. system as Four released footage taken from the cameras that only Max had access to, showing Jeanine injecting a soldier onto the screens throughout the compound. But that couldn’t happen until they wiped out Jeanine’s control with their serum.

The smell of gun powder grew stronger in her nostrils as they got closer to the pit and the loud popping noises.

From their vantage point she could see a large number of bodies littering the ground, though she couldn’t make out how many were from which side, as they passed by on their way to Max’s office.

The door was ajar when they reached it and Eric pushed it open the rest of the way with his foot, his gun aimed steadily at eye level.

“He’s not here.” He said after quickly searching the room. “My guess is he’s either fighting back or he’s trying to contact Jeanine.”

“Well, what would you do if you were him?” She asked, listening out for the sound of intruders.

“There isn’t much Jeanine could do from her end after the serum is released and he has the man power, so I would fight. He’ll be in the thick of it then.”

He turned to a young Divergent by the name of Trent and nodded to the walkie talkie that was clipped to his belt. “See if you can find out where most of the action is.”

The boy, by Samantha’s guess, was the same age as her and she watched as his hand shook when he grabbed the radio. As he spoke to the guy on the other end, his walnut brown hair blew into his brown eyes and he flicked his head to the side to remove it.

Most of the conversation that she could hear was static, but it obviously made sense to him because he announced that the other team had engaged a group of super soldiers by the cafeteria and after releasing their canisters they realized that Max was among them.

They currently had the soldiers that were affected by the serum tied up, which apparently was easy to do since they were confused about what was happening once Jeanine’s control was taken away. But Max got away and ran towards the chasm.

Eric seemed alarmed by that and quickly signaled them to follow him.

Samantha caught up to him and asked, “What’s the matter? You seem really anxious.”

Without stopping; his breathing laboured with the effort to run as fast as he could, he replied, “There’s a door that leads out of the compound at the bottom of the chasm. We need to stop him before he gets there.”

With that knowledge Samantha and the rest of them urged their bodies to go faster and they reached the bridge at the top of the chasm within a couple of minutes.

The roar of the water crashing against rock filled the room and made it hard to hear your own voice if you weren’t shouting. Down below, she could see a dark figure making his way to the bottom.

Eric noticed too and shot his gun at him. The bullet missed, purposely hitting the rock next to its target’s ear, and Eric shouted at him to stop. But Max kept going, stopping only once to turn and shoot back.

Eric pushed Samantha back behind the wall and he crouched low, aiming his gun again. This time he hit Max in the leg and she could hear a faint cry of pain come from the body that collapsed to the ground.

“Max, don’t make me kill you.” Eric shouted, looking down his barrel at the man who slowly pulled himself up on one leg and limped onward.

When Max ignored him, Eric cursed and fired again, this time hitting the other leg.

Max fell to the ground in pain and laid there.

Eric told her to stay put and watch out for others as he descended down to the bottom with Trent close behind to retrieve Max so they could bring him back to the control room where Four was supposed to be getting the footage.

Time froze for Samantha as she watched Eric bend over to grab Max’s arm to haul him to his feet. She could see the gun Max had, peak from underneath his body when Eric got near and the sound of it firing made her jump.

The force of the shot pushed Eric back and he fell into the rushing water behind him. He never came back up as the water pushed his body with its current out of her view.

The world went quiet and she felt numb. It took a minute for her shock to wear off enough so she hear the sound of her screaming and feel the hands that pulled at her to keep her from jumping off the bridge after him.

Someone dragged her away and held her against the rock wall a yard away from the chasm entrance, allowing her to sob while they waited for the others to subdue Max and bring him back up.


	46. Chapter 46

Samantha found herself sitting in a chair in the control room, crowded by a group of people who kept Max guarded, as Four furiously typed away at one of the computers.

The way there was a blur to her and even now she was having a hard time paying attention to what was going on around her, her mind busy with thoughts of Eric.

They couldn’t know officially that he was dead, not without a body to prove it, but the fast current of the chasm left little hope of finding it or of his survival. If the bullet hadn’t killed him, surely he would die from the water pounding him against the rock walls, repeatedly.

Even if he did live, she had no idea where the chasm ended. For all she knew it could have gone back underground and Eric would have been sucked down with it to drown in the darkness.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed down at her clasped hands in her lap, the emotional pain becoming too much to bear. To escape her own personal torture, she fought her way back through the fog to reality. Eric would want her to finish the mission.

“Speak!” Carson shouted at Max, his gun pressed hard against the man’s temple and a microphone shoved under his nose.

Max’s lips pressed together in refusal and he stared straight ahead at the monitors.

“Did you know that Jeanine’s dead?” She asked quietly, like she didn’t mean to say anything at all, altering her focus from her lap to Max. The flick of his gaze towards her urged her to go on. “Eric killed her just before you killed him. Now you won’t have anyone to back you up with any serums once this all goes to shit for you.” She said getting up from her seat and approaching him.

“Which it will soon enough, because we have plenty of our own serum to fill this entire compound to stop your super soldiers and even if you don’t say anything, I’m sure the little video of Jeanine that Four is about to show will change everyone’s mind about you. Because of course Jeanine couldn’t do anything in Dauntless without you knowing about it, now could she? So you might as well fess up and maybe we will be lenient.”

Samantha matched his stare and watched as thoughts played behind his brown eyes and the corners of his mouth rise into a smile. “Let’s make a deal.” He said.

Samantha narrowed her eyes at him in suspicion. “What kind of deal?”

“I’ll talk… If, you can beat me in a fight.” He said still grinning.

“No, Sam, we don’t need him to achieve what we need to. The video will be enough evidence against him.” Four interrupted, his finger hovering above the button that would play the video around the compound.

Max knew she had a tendency to choke in a fight so he probably thought it would be an easy win, but he obviously didn’t realize that he had killed the love of her life and she was pissed.

“Agreed.” She said, never taking her eyes off the man in front of her.

She motioned for the men surrounding Max to let him go and as soon as they backed away, she knifed him in the throat with her hand and as he desperately gasped for air, she kicked him in the stomach, causing him to fly backwards out of the control room and into the hallway.

His body thudded against the stone floor when he landed and she could hear him wheezing as she sauntered out of the room after him. Samantha wasn’t in a hurry to end his suffering and allowed him to compose himself, hunched on all fours, before kicking him in the side, causing his body to hit the wall beside him, hard.

Then she paused. He was a Dauntless leader and she barely had training, so why hadn’t he got a good hit in yet? It wasn’t really a fight if he wasn’t trying, so why bother making the deal if he was going to lose on purpose? She wondered what he had up his sleeve.

She waited for him to get up, but he stayed down even though his breathing became normal and his body tensed, waiting for the next blow.

She took a step back and said, “What are you waiting for? Fight back.”

He didn’t reply and stayed down in silence. She kicked him again in the ribs.

“Get up!” She shouted.

He coughed and clutched his midsection, pain written on his face, but he remained still.

“Fine, if you won’t fight then the deal is off.” She said and turned away from him.

“I knew Eric had a thing for you, you know.” She heard him say behind her. “Obviously you didn’t feel the same way if you’re willing to let his killer go, I don’t blame you though. He was always a bit of a dick.” Max taunted her.

She was about to kick him again when a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned to see Four standing there, looking solemn.

“Hurting him is pointless. He’s just egging you on in hopes that you’ll kill him in your rage. Dauntless rather die than become factionless.” Four explained. His gaze at Max was filled with pity.

“Factionless? Factionless! You idiot, don’t you know that the Factions aren’t real? Didn’t Jeanine tell you that? Everyone will be Factionless by the time this is all over and you’ll be going to prison!” She ranted at Max, who looked up at her from the ground.

“The Faction system that you love so much will be gone and the real world will come in and take back the city. Our experiment has run its course and we’ve failed.” She continued in his face.

His expression went from blank to confused. “What experiment?” He asked.

Samantha laughed, a little hysterical, but mostly in disbelief. “Jeanine kept you in the dark, didn’t she? Man, she had you wound tightly around her finger.”

She gave him the whole story from the beginning to finish and by the time she was done, Max was leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.

“I can’t believe I helped her.” He shook his head. Then he met Four’s gaze and said, “I’m sorry Four, for hurting Abnegation and chasing you down. And Sam, I’m sorry for Eric. I’m glad he got the chance to choose the right side before it was too late.” He apologized to them.

“It’s still not too late for you, Max. Tell the Dauntless to back off and we’ll work something out.” Four said.

Max nodded in agreement and took the hand Four offered him and lifted himself up from the ground.


	47. Chapter 47

The current was fast and the weight of the bullet proof vest he wore dragged him down. Shoulders, elbows and knuckles scraped along the sides of the chasm as he desperately tried to grab a hold of something to stop him from following the rush of water and lift himself out.

When he began to run out of breath, he fumbled with the fastenings on the vest and tore it off. The instant relief of the burden allowed him to rise out of the water and suck in a deep breath of air.

Looking around frantically for something to grab, he noticed the river was heading into a cave-like tunnel. Forced to follow the current, he was quickly submerged into darkness.

Fear ignited in his chest. He couldn’t see where he was going or what was around him, he wouldn’t even know if the ceiling dropped and cut off his air supply.

Then pain erupted in his body when his back hit a large boulder underneath the water. He shouted in pain, still struggling to stay above the waterline when he hit another with his left shoulder. His head went under when he clutched it, his shoulder too painful to keep himself afloat.

Fear ate at him the longer he stayed under, the only senses available to him filled with the roaring of water in his ears and the rush of water pushing his body along as his lungs cried for air.

Finally light broke through the darkness and gave him hope. He forced his shoulder to move through the pain and broke to the surface again, taking another deep breath. He was outside of the compound.

With light to see and no vest to weigh him down, he tried to get a hold on the rocks again. With his good arm he managed to grip a piece of the wall that protruded and pulled his body closer to it; away from the majority of the current.

Eric pulled himself up along the jagged rocks. The bullet wound in his side stung like a son of a bitch, blood seeping through the black t-shirt he had worn underneath the vest and his shoulder screamed with the effort to pull his body weight up.

Reaching the top, he flopped down on his back and panted. Relief flooded him as he watched the early morning sky slowly get brighter with the sunrise.

With his fear subsiding, the pain grew stronger. He sat up to inspect the damage, wincing at the effort and pulled his shirt up to his chest. Because of his long torso the vest didn’t cover his whole lower abdomen, and there on the very far left side was a small hole. An inch more to the left the bullet would have only grazed him, but an inch more to the right, it would have killed him. He needed to get help quickly or he would bleed to death.

He pulled his shirt over his head with difficulty, flinching from the pain in his shoulder, and bunched it up against his wound to slow the flow of blood, and got up.

Eric wasn’t sure where he was. With no direction, the only chance he had to get back to Samantha was to follow the chasm back to Dauntless. It would be difficult since at some point it went underground again, but he would have to try anyway.

As he jogged along the edge of the ravine, he mentally cursed himself and his carelessness. He was so preoccupied with finishing this war that he completely forgot to watch out for weapons that Max may have had and it obviously cost him. He just thanked his lucky stars that Max didn’t get a good enough shot to kill him and that he hadn’t drowned afterward.

He could only imagine what Samantha was going through. She probably thought he was dead and he hoped that he made it back in time to make sure she didn’t do anything stupid. But he had left her in the middle of a war; there was no guarantee that she was safe either.

Images of her body sprawled on the ground somewhere; bleeding out, pushed his body harder to reach his destination, but the wound in his side slowed him down more than he wanted.

It didn’t take long until the t-shirt he used to stop the bleeding was saturated again and he could see a steady stream of blood run down the arm that held it in place and splatter on the ground below him.

Spots began to dot his vision and he swayed a little as he slowed to a walk. He could feel the faint coming on and he could do nothing to stop it.  
___  
Eric woke up in a bed, sore and tired. The lights above him were dimmed, but it was enough for him to search the large room. He was in the Dauntless infirmary with many others sound sleep around him, some sectioned off with a curtain and others not. In the chair beside him sat Tris. When she realized he was awake she said something into her radio and went over to him.

“How are you feeling?” She asked him politely.

“Alive.” He replied. He looked around some more. “Where’s Sam?” He grew anxious.

Tris put a hand on his chest to lay him back down. “She’s fine. I sent her off to get some rest. It looked like she could use it after sitting in that chair for the last 48 hours.”

“Two days?” He asked confused. The last thing he remembered was passing out in the middle of nowhere. “How did you guys find me?”

“Ah, well, we got lucky. Sam insisted that we find your body, since we all assumed you were dead, so we could have a proper funeral for you.” She explained, standing next to his bed.

“We weren’t sure where the chasm ended so we followed it and found you lying on the ground not too far away. You needed a couple of blood transfusions badly so we rushed you back and fixed up the hole in your side. The doctor said nothing important was hit and you’ll recover just fine, but you need to take it easy…” Tris trailed off, turning to see who the thundering footsteps belonged to as Samantha rushed in, with Four following her at a slower pace, and launched herself into Eric’s waiting arms.

Eric hugged her tightly, briefly kissing her before stuffing his face in her hair and saying, “I am so sorry. I promise to never leave you again.”

“You scared the shit out of me, Eric! I thought you were dead!” She cried, pulling herself away from him enough to look at him.

Eric could see the dark circles underneath the shimmering pools of blue that threatened to release more tears. Her eyes were blood shot from crying and the bun she had her hair in was now a mess of tangles held together by the elastic band.

He reached up to caress her cheek. “I know. I thought I was too for a while there, but I made it back okay, thanks to you.” The weight of her face in his palm reassured him as she leaned in to kiss it.

“What happened after I left?” He asked them and Samantha straightened herself back up as if remembering that the others were there.

“Your group brought Max to the control room as planned and he confessed over the P.A. system, after the promise of lenience on our part of course, and everyone backed off. The majority of Dauntless are completely confused as to what happened.” Four explained.

“So… What now? Do we just go back to the way things were before Jeanine?” He asked and Four shook his head.

“No. Carson and his men are taking over from here. Apparently the President wants the city back as part of the United States now that we’ve dealt with our problem. They’re sending in professionals to help us rebuild and become more like the rest of the country.”

“Why don’t we just use the Abnegation Serum and make everyone forget about the Factions?” Eric asked. It would be a lot easier to change people’s lives if they didn’t know anything was amiss.

“They don’t want to risk someone else coming to the same conclusion and doing it all over again. They want us to remember so we learn from our mistakes.” Four replied.

“What do we do until they come?” Samantha asked, gripping Eric’s hand.

“We rest. Now is a good time as any to start.” Tris said in closing. She slipped her hand with Four’s and tugged him out of the infirmary towards his old apartment.

Samantha went to follow them, but Eric pulled her back. “Stay with me.”

“But you need rest, Eric, and quite frankly, so do I.” She replied, tired.

“Lay down next to me and we both can go to sleep.” He said, patting the two inches of space on his right. Samantha laughed softly.

“There’s no way I can fit on there with you. Your humongous body is taking up the whole thing.” She teased.

“You can lay on top of me then.” He winked at her playfully.

“Eric, you’re still recovering. My crushing your torso isn’t going to speed up the healing process.” She said, serious now.

“I disagree. Having you close is the only thing that will make me feel better right now. So, if you want me to rest then you better get your butt up here.” He said firmly and scooted over slowly.

Samantha sighed and climbed up onto the bed. Curling up next to him, she rested her right arm across his chest and relaxed into the arm he wrapped around her.

“Goodnight.” She whispered as her eyes fluttered closed. She felt him kiss the top of her head before falling asleep.


	48. Epilogue

Samantha stepped through the door that led onto the roof of the Hancock building as the gentlest of breezes rustled her long wavy locks. The sky was clear as she scanned the view of the city until her gaze found Eric standing by the edge.

Five years ago after the war with Erudite, it was chaos. Amity and Candor, who were not involved with the war, where confused by the sudden changes and needed the video, that Jeanine stole, to help them understand. The Factions were dissolved, and new residents were brought in to establish a proper American city, complete with new jobs and construction crews to fix the rundown buildings and roads.

Samantha and her fellow initiates were sent back to school to finish the state curriculum against their cries of adulthood, and Samantha and Eric were no longer allowed to be a couple. New laws stated that she was under the age of consent and because Eric was older, he would be arrested for sleeping with her if anyone found out.

Eric thought it was bull and tried to break the rules as many times as he could, but Samantha put him in his place, and she thought back on one of those stolen moments between them now.

Samantha woke up to a tapping at her window. Flipping the covers over, she swung her pajama clad legs out and walked over to the window. Eric was smiling at her from the other side, his hands tucked into the pockets of his coat to keep them warm from the cool summer night air.

Rolling her eyes, Samantha opened the window and leaned out. “It’s a little late to hang out isn’t it?” She asked, amused at his indifference to the time of day.

He often did this, just to have some privacy from prying eyes, like her parents. She was forced to move back in with them in the Amity compound until school was finished, and although they knew about their relationship they didn’t really approve of her dating the mean guy from Dauntless.

“It’s hardly midnight.” He scoffed, a smirk playing on his lips. He offered her his hand to help her out the window and said, “Take a walk with me. I want to ask you something.”

Sighing, she took his hand and climbed out the bungalow window. The air was cold on her bare arms, her white tank top not much protection, and she rubbed her arms together.

Eric slipped his jacket off and wrapped it around her, pulling her close to him as they walked. They neared the stables and lay down on the strewn hay outside of it, Samantha cuddling in his arms and they stared up at the sky.

“You didn’t get me out here to coax me into sleeping with you, did you?” She half joked. It wouldn’t be the first time.

Eric scowled. “It’s ridiculous that we can’t do something that we’ve already done, because of some stupid law. It’s only a year, can’t they just pretend like you’re already 18?”

Samantha smiled up at the sky. “You’ve already waited 10 months. I think you can wait another year.”

“Are you serious? I have the longest case of blue balls in history!” He protested.

“I don’t think it would look good if one of the members of the SWAT team was arrested for assaulting a minor, do you? We can wait, and as soon as I turn 18, we can move in together and screw our brains out.” She patted him on the thigh.

“Can we at least make out?” He asked, annoyed at having to wait.

“Don’t you remember last time? Once we had started it was twice as hard to stop before going too far, than if we hadn’t started in the first place. That’s why we’re not supposed to be seeing each other like this.” Samantha replied.

“I know, but I love you. I don’t want you to forget me and fall for some prick in school, because we’re not allowed to date.” He sighed. “And I hate being chaperoned by your parents just so we can hang out. I can feel their hatred bore into the back of my head every time.”

“They don’t hate you. They just think you want to have your way with me and then run away, that’s all.” She said matter-of-factly.

“That’s why I came tonight. I want to show them, and you, that I’m serious about us.” He said with determination.

“How?” She was curious as to what he had meant.

Eric titled to one side so he could get his hand in his pant pocket and pulled something out. Samantha couldn’t see what it was until he held it in front of her. It was a ring with an oval shaped black onyx surrounded by tiny rubies.

Samantha’s jaw dropped at the sight of it.

“Dauntless usually get rings tattooed on their finger, but I wanted to give you something that represented Dauntless and Amity together. So I got this ring with the Dauntless colors so you could wear it like the Amity do.” He explained, still holding it out to her.

“Are… Are you asking me to marry you?” She asked, nervous that she might be wrong and excited that she might be right.

“Yes, I am.” He replied. “Are you saying yes?” He wondered nervously.

“Of course, I’m saying Yes!” She squealed and hugged him. Eric held her tightly, a large grin spread across his face.

She eased out of his arms and looked at him. “On one condition though. I want to go to college before getting married.”

“But Tris married Four as soon as she turned 18.” He grumbled.

Samantha sighed. “I know, and that’s because they weren’t going to do the nasty until they got married. We’re not waiting, so I think we can hold on the wedding. I promise, I will move in with you the day I turn 18, ok?”

“Fine.” Eric caved and kissed her lightly on the lips to seal the deal.

“Now give me that ring!” She excitedly held her hand out so he could slip it on her finger and admired its beauty. She loved it and she loved him.

Samantha went on to the new college that opened in Chicago and studied to become a nurse. Tris and Samantha’s new friend Kathy had gone with her, Tris to become a social worker and Kathy wanted to be a movie star, but settled for History teacher, and they quickly became the best of friends.

Now the day finally came for the wedding. Samantha linked her arm with her father’s and they slowly walked down the aisle to the music. They had picked the top of the Hancock building for his Dauntless side and the service was traditional for her Amity side.

Wild flowers adorned the sides of the chairs going down the aisle and led up to an arch also decorated with the flowers where Eric stood with the pastor and Four.

Four had gone onto to become an intern for the new Mayor of Chicago and kept in contact with Eric. They may have had different ways to do things, but they quickly learned to accept that about each other and became close friends, especially since Samantha and Tris were hanging out so much.

Samantha caught Kathy’s eye in the seats to her left and gave her a smile. She had promised to introduce her to a hot Dauntless guy and she did.

Silas was forgiven for being a selfish idiot and after he realized that Samantha was serious about Eric, he gave up and they went back to being friends. It helped even more when she introduced him to Kathy, who instantly fell in love with him, and now they sat together, hand in hand; Samantha was happy for them.

She moved her gaze back to the front to see Eric smiling at her. He was so handsome in his three piece suit, all black except for the white dress shirt underneath the vest and a red tie and handkerchief in the chest pocket. The only visible tattoos were the tips of his neck ones peeking out from his shirt collar, and his piercings had a dull shine to them from the sunlight overhead.

She reached the altar with her father and he was supposed to hand her off to Eric, but he was reluctant to let her go. He was never happy that his daughter was going to marry an ex-leader of Dauntless, even if she was Dauntless herself, but her mother managed to convince him that there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Samantha pulled her arm from his death grip and took Eric’s outstretched hand. Her heart swelled at the smile he gave her before facing the pastor and reciting their vows.

The sun heated her bare shoulders, her dress being an ivory strapless, empire gown with a silk belt under the bust and her chest covered in a floral lace. The skirt swished with every move she made and she loved it. She hoped Eric loved it too, but with his many side glances at her while the pastor talked told her she had nothing to worry about.

When the ceremony ended, Eric pulled her in for a hungry kiss, leaving her breathless as he lifted her up into his arms to carry her down the aisle as Dauntless whoops, and friendly Amity claps applauded the newlyweds.

The shade in the stairwell made her shiver with the temperature drop despite Eric’s body heat and she snuggled deeper into his embrace.

“What now?” Eric asked.

“We go to the reception.” She said, wondering why he stopped above the stairwell.

“I say we forget the reception and do something more exciting.” He said.

“Like what?” Samantha asked, wary.

“Let’s catch the train.” He smiled eager to do one more act of rebellion.

She smiled back at him. “Okay.”

Some of the train stations had been upgraded or fixed in the last five years so more of the population could use them, but there were still a few that were run down and allowed room to run and jump on.

Eric and Samantha waited at one of these stations for the train to come. As it neared, Samantha gathered the skirt of her dress and held it high above her knees and followed behind Eric at a quick pace to catch the moving vehicle.

Eric with his longer stride reached it first and slammed his hand against the button to release the door and pulled himself in. He then leaned out so Samantha could grab his hand and he hoisted her up into the safety of the empty train car.

Samantha leaned against Eric’s chest, his arms wrapped around her as they stood by the open door just watching the city go by.

She missed some aspects of Dauntless, like this one, but with the world now available to them, the future seemed much more exciting than anything Dauntless could have been, and she had Eric to protect her, now and forever.

The End


End file.
